Vista Land sets ’14 capex at P21B

Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., the country’s largest home builder, is spending more this year as it plans to launch more projects, both for its core residential development and growing commercial businesses.

Vista Land CEO Manuel Paolo Villar said in a briefing Tuesday that capital spending for 2014 was estimated at P21 billion, up from P17.2 billion in the previous year.

Spending will help support continued growth in earnings for 2014, he said, without giving a specific guidance. The company builds and sells residential property across all market segments, although the bulk of its earnings still comes from low-cost housing arm Camella Homes. Growth in this segment is driven largely by Filipino buyers based overseas.

“The market demand for housing, particularly in the lower end of the market, continues to be robust and we don’t see any risk of a slowdown in that segment,” Villar said.

He said Vista Land was targeting to launch this year new projects with a combined sales value of P28 billion. The builder, founded more than three decades ago by former Senator Manuel Villar Jr., launched 35 projects in 2013 with a sales value of P26.1 billion.

About 90 percent of these projects were launched for the low and affordable segments, company briefing materials showed. Vista Land intends to further ramp up its presence in the lower end of the market by launching its Lumina brand, which offers homes for no more than P1.5 million.

The strategy to reach more customers was moving alongside efforts to grow its recurring income base, mainly through the launch of commercial centers, Villar said.  This segment was projected to contribute about P100 million to the total business in 2014, up from P60 million last year, he said.

Vista Land said earlier its profit rose by 15 percent to P5.1 billion as real estate revenue hit P20 billion, up by 23 percent.

Because of the pace of its expansion, Villar said managing finances was a key strategy. The builder was now more open to entering into joint venture deals with landowners against an earlier strategy to acquire properties outright.

“Also, given that we have commercial developments, it makes sense for us now to embrace joint ventures for large parcels of land,” Villar said. “It’s something we are more willing to do now.”

At the end of 2013, Vista Land had land inventory of 1,888 hectares, about 83 percent of which was owned by the company, its briefing materials showed. Miguel R. Camus