Filinvest Land: P 30B worth of projects ready to be rolled out

Gotianun-led Filinvest Land Inc. is readying a P30-billion pipeline of projects as part of its postpandemic recovery program.

In a recent statement, Josephine Gotianun Yap, president of Filinvest Land, said the projects would be rolled out “once market demand dictates.”

“We look forward to the new normal and a brighter future, and we are confident that a renewed business environment and our balanced portfolio will enable us to serve more homebuyers, office and mall tenants,” Gotianun said.

The builder earlier signaled plans to launch more projects in 2022 after its “modest” expansion the previous year. Gotianun said this came about as they evaluated the pace of inventory absorption and potential cancellations.

Even last year, the business was showing signs of a turnaround alongside other property developers.

Filinvest Land saw the strong recovery in residential sales, which grew 15 percent to P11.3 billion. This allowed the company to end 2021 with a net income of P3.8 billion, up 2 percent.

“We are confident that the trajectory of growth for the residential business will continue beyond 2022,” Gotianun said.

The leasing segment for malls and offices were weighed down by pandemic restrictions last year. Gotianun said mall tenants were supported through rental concessions and the company’s “digital marketing platforms.”

The office segment was similarly impacted by the decline in Chinese offshore gaming activities.

The segments caused a 26-percent decline in rental revenues, Gotianun said.

For 2022, business process outsourcing (BPO) activities could drive growth in the rental business despite the push for hybrid work and work from home arrangements.

“We believe this to be the trough of the rental business cycle. The BPO sector is now poised for further growth, and we expect the mall business to improve as the economy opens,” she said.

Including its real estate investment trust arm, Filinvest REIT Corp., the company and its subsidiaries operate 36 office and retail developments with over 780,000 square meters (sq m) of gross leasable area (GLA).

Gotianun said they were aiming to grow investment properties to 2.1 million sq m of GLA by 2026. INQ