PH property mart unlikely to crash, say experts

The Philippine property market is unlikely to crash, not even when the upswing has now lasted for 20 years, as long as the country addresses infrastructure bottlenecks and boosts its human capital, property experts said.

Rick Santos, chair and founder of property consulting firm CBRE Philippines, said the Philippines was one of the strongest property markets within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and was increasingly becoming “relevant” to the international property scene.

During the 4th Asia Pacific Real Estate Investment Summit yesterday, Santos said he was not worried about a property glut “as long as educational institutions keep up and as long as we continue to invest in infrastructure.”

“We’ve had a great 20-year run and we look forward to another great 20 years,” Santos said.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, forecast to outrank remittances as the country’s top source of foreign exchange by next year, is seen to remain robust.

Santos said these BPOs were creating an ecosystem that provides strong synergy to complement demand from consumers.

Once every major locator is brought into an estate, he said this would consequently open up retail, residential, hotel and leisure-oriented property development opportunities.

Favorable demographics are likewise seen supporting the property sector.  Santos noted that the Philippines had the youngest workforce in the world with a median age of 23 compared to 46 in Japan.

But he also noted that the government would have to invest in primary and secondary schools to keep the workforce competitive.

“Education is the new people power,” he said.