By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat
Japanese-owned List Group, one the largest real estate franchisees of Sotheby's International Realty®, has expanded its footprint in the Philippines convinced that there are high-end properties worthy of investing into as well as a good number of wealthy Filipinos who are on the look-out for potential real estate purchase overseas.
List Group Global CEO Hisashi Kitami told Manila Bulletin cited the improving quality of the country’s real estate products for foreign investors and rich Filipinos wanting to buy properties abroad.
“The Philippines is a very good market and has the most stable growth in Southeast Asia,” said Kitami noting that the growth is being reflected in the country’s young demographic, fueling the growth unlike Japan which has an ageing population.
He cited that countries with young population such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and India have higher growth potential stressing the “age of the population is the energy of a country.”
The List Group entered in the country in 2016 and is already an equity investor in a tourism project in Boracay in joint venture with a local developer and another high-end development in Manila, but Kitami refused to divulge which property developments are those.
“We have not made enough presence in the local market but we believe that with our global network, we can promote further so the rest of the world can recognize the potential and the attractiveness of the Philippine market,” said Kitami.
Noting the arrivals of more foreign tourists, Kitami said they also see the improvements in the quality of real estate projects and properties than three years ago.
His optimism in the luxury real estate market in the country cannot be dampened by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Of course,” he said, “many things are happening like stock market plunging down and other industries are struggling but after this crisis the real estate sector will certainly recover.”
Kitami pointed out that the recession in 2008 was largely due to the problems in the real estate sector, but this time there was nothing wrong in this sector.
Thus, despite the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines, Kitami proceeded with his visit to the country. While the Philippine stocks fell to its lowest just like the other countries, Kitami reiterated that the current crisis was not brought about by the over exposure in the property sector like what happened in the previous global and Asian financial crisis.
As such, Kitami remained optimistic especially for the Philippines high-end property market. The COVID-19 has not affected their plans for the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsubomatsu, COO of List Sotheby’s International Realty Philippines (LSIRPH), echoed Kitami’s optimism.
“The impact of the COVID-19 would be quite minimal actually because the major difference from the past recession is that the financial market has not been impacted so much, the real estate especially is strong and the economy has stable growth. We have enough savings accumulated in the past several years already,” he said. He also cited the cash inflow from the OFW remittances.
In crisis such as this, Tsubomatsu said that one of the most vulnerable sectors is leisure and hospitality, but the effect on real property in general is minimal noting that “real estate projects have long gestation periods so the crisis has long been resolved by the time the project is completed.”
In addition, he said, “Real estate properties tend to appreciate in time, so they remain attractive in-vestments regardless of any external factor.”
Aside from the Chinese, Tsubomatsu said there is a strong appetite among Japanese investors, especially the corporate accounts, in the Philippine real estate.
“We have increased number of inquiries mostly for Metro Manila and Cebu,” he added. He cited investors’ inter¬est for properties in Boracay and Metro Manila suburbs like Cavite and Bulacan although most of the properties transactions they’ve closed were in the central business districts in Metro Manila.
Tsubomatsu stressed that one of the objectives of List Sotheby's International Realty is to promote cross-border investments by providing customers access to its luxury property listings in 70 countries through the help of its 1,000 offices worldwide.
“We give our customers the professional advice on where they can invest, and which properties will yield the best appreciation and or positive returns,” he said. One of the best attractions of the Philippine property listings is its tropical climate.
With the global network of the List Group, Philippine properties can also be marketed overseas.