Villar vows bigger presence as Vista Land enters new expansion era

Manuel Villar Jr.

MANILA  -Billionaire Manuel Villar Jr.’s Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., one of the country’s largest horizontal housing developers, is gearing up for aggressive expansion until 2024 after “retooling” its business strategy to focus on large scale estate developments and vertical projects.

Villar told reporters in a recent interview Vista Land would soon announce a series of new projects across the country, including new township-type developments. “We will have the most number of [project] launches this second half [of 2023] up to next year all over the country,” he said.

“You will be hearing a lot from Vista Land this year and next,” he added.

READ: Villar’s Vista Land upbeat for 2023 as it builds on last year’s achievements

The developer, which has over 3,000 hectares (ha) of land that has yet to be developed, had announced a strategic shift away from more affordable housing projects last year.

The company earlier announced plans to launch as many as 44 estates spanning a combined 1,400 ha.

These projects would continue, Villar said, although he could not share specific details during the interview.

READ: Vista Land makes strategic shift into upscale township segment

“We had to change everything so we fell back. We had to do retooling so now we’re focusing on vertical,” he said.

“Plans took about a year to finish but now it’s done,” he added.

Vista Land maintained robust earnings growth in the first half of 2023 due to the strong recovery of rental income.

Overall revenues climbed 8 percent to P18.3 billion as leasing income jumped 24 percent to P7.92 billion.

Revenues from real estate sales dipped 8 percent to P8.02 billion mainly due to a slowdown at its Brittany and Camella housing brands.

Vista Land ended the first semester with a net income of P5.8 billion, which was up 83 percent as this included a one-time P1.8-billion gain from insurance proceeds. Core profit during the period reached P4.2 billion.

READ: Vista Land H1 2023 income up on one time gain

Vista Land’s total assets during the first six months of the year stood at P335.4 billion while equity was at P129.3 billion. The builder said its balance sheet remained strong with a debt to equity ratio of 84 percent.

Meanwhile, capital spending from January to June reached P12.2 billion mainly for construction and land development activities. INQ