Ayala Land hinges 2024 growth on wealthy clients

MANILA, Philippines — The Zobel family’s Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is banking on its premium brands to drive growth this year as this segment may not be particularly impacted by high interest rates.

ALI president and CEO Anna Ma. Margarita Bautista-Dy last week said they were targeting a 15-percent growth in sales this year after booking increases in earnings and revenues in the first quarter.

“In the next year or two, we will be focusing on the premium segment, which we believe is less sensitive to interest rates,” Dy said during the company’s first-quarter briefing.

READ: Ayala Land grows 2023 profit by 32% to P24.5B, targets P50B by 2028

Last year, 80 percent of ALI’s new projects were under its premium brands, Alveo Land and Ayala Land Premier. Nearly half of these, mostly vertical projects such as high-rise condominiums, were launched in the fourth quarter.

High-interest rate woes

This year, ALI aims to add P100 billion worth of targets, with 80 percent coming from the upscale segment.

Dy noted they saw reservation cancellations in their core residential segment under Avida and Amaia early last year due to the high-interest rate environment.

READ: Ayala Land conquers North to South

As a result, Dy said they wanted to “tread very carefully as far as our launches are concerned.” She said they wanted to turn things around in the next two to three years, especially when interest rates are lower.

“We do need the core market to come back. The implication of the reduction in rates may not be immediately felt, but we will need to see its impact in two to three years,” Dy said.

ALI’s net income in the January to March period reached P6.3 billion, up by 39 percent. Revenues likewise swelled by 33 percent to P41 billion.