Villar company sets diversification plan
Villar-led Vista Land & Lifescapes (VLL) expects to sustain a double-digit earnings growth in the next three years, during which it plans to evolve from being a mass housing builder to a major mixed-use property developer.
VLL chair and founder Manuel Villar Jr. said that in the next three years, all businesses of VLL would likely grow at a double-digit pace: 12-15 percent for housing and 22-25 percent for shopping mall leasing.
Villar said the housing business was doing very well and VLL would like to ride on the momentum.
In previous years, he said VLL had focused more on building assets that would deliver recurring earnings—like shopping malls—but noted that the company now had strengthened the organization to be able to run on both engines of growth.
But even as a housing developer, he noted that VLL was now the biggest in this business outside of Metro Manila.
In the future, VLL will be developing large-scale, mixed-use estates, Villar said.
“We will be a mixed-use developer like Ayala, SM and Megaworld. We hope to be in that league after a while—in three years. You will see a different Vista Land,” he said.
VLL, which is now building master-planned communities, is present in 128 cities and municipalities nationwide.
Building beautiful retail hubs in its estates is also seen to enhance the value and appeal of real estate developments, especially in the countryside, Villar said.
Villar predicted a reverse migration to the countryside as growing families seek a better quality of life away from highly-congested Metro Manila.
Previously, he noted that the skilled workers were all moving to Metro Manila as business process outsourcing (BPO) boomed. But now, he said even BPOs were moving outside the metropolis.
Villar is thus heavily betting on the countryside for future expansion across various businesses, capitalizing on the group’s vast landbank.
He said many young families were looking for cheaper but bigger homes outside of Metro Manila or in the provinces. However, these still require better-than-usual amenities which will be served by the Villar group’s various businesses, he said.
