Philippine property developers said they see recovery in property prices in the country is expected in 2022 yet after a two year slump due to the pandemic problems.

In a statement, the national chapter of the Paris-based International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) said that property prices could recover early in 2022.

This positive projection of FIABCI-Philippines comes on the heels of a substantial productivity decline of 24.2 percent in the construction sector, and negative 13.2 percent in real estate and ownership of dwellings in the first quarter of the year.

The decline contributed to the 4.2 percent drop in the GDP in that period as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority. 

Nonetheless, FIABCI-Philippines chairman emeritus Florentino Dulalia Jr. said the country could expect to recover beginning in the first semester of 2022, or even later this year at best.

Dulalia’s projection is consistent with the results of a global survey conducted by the FIABCI World Council of Experts headed by Dr. Sopon Pornchokchai as president.

The survey involving 226 cities shows house prices in the Philippines still having risen by 1.8 percent in 2019-2020 and 5.6 percent in 2020-2021 compared with the price declines in other Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia -0.3 percent and -04 percent in both periods, respectively; Indonesia -10.2 percent and -1.1 percent; Thailand -5.3 percent and -2.9 percent; Laos -7.5% and -10 percent; and Malaysia -5.7 percent and -6.6 percent.

“Still, the market slump is region-wide and worldwide and spans the various segments of the property sector, obviously stemming from lockdowns and other measures implemented to arrest the spread of covid, thus resulting in huge reductions in office footprints and consumer traffic,” Dulalia pointed out, citing the ongoing vaccination campaign as a possible catalyst to recovery.

Dulalia was FIABCI World president from June 2020 to May 2021.  It was during his term that the FIABCI World Real Estate Congress was scheduled to be held in the Philippines for the first time on May 26 to 30 last year when the staging of the event itself was aborted altogether because of the breakout of the covid pandemic.

In anticipating a rebound from the current slump, FIABCI-Philippines is staging an industry conference on how to position and cash in on the recovery. The one-day conference slated at Okada Hotel on October 15 will culminate in a Property and Real Estate Excellence Awards Night.

Up for grabs at the event are prestigious awards in 16 categories -- environmental (rehabilitation/conservation), heritage (restoration), master plan, hotel, convention, industrial, office, public infrastructure/amenities, high-rise and low-rise residential, resort, retail, rural, specialized, and sustainable development.

Highlighting the awards are the best practices, innovations and levels of economic and environmental impacts of the nominated projects vis-à-vis FIABCI’s rising standards of excellence. Founded in 1951 in Paris, France, FIABCI has around 2,300 regular and a million associate members in 65 countries, including the Philippines, which holds the annual awards to keep raising the bar of excellence in all the 16 product categories of the property and real estate sector.