INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
As investors turn more optimistic toward the real estate sector after the recent interest rate cuts, Megaworld Corp. has launched another residential condominium project in Luzon, with the Andrew Tan-led firm expecting P3 billion in sales from the new development.
In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, Megaworld said it had launched the 12-story The Bellagio Palawan within its Baytown Palawan township.
The new project will have 188 “smart home” units, whose wireless home systems can be remotely accessed through a mobile application. The units will span up to 109 square meters, Megaworld said.
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The Bellagio will likewise have coworking spaces, a function hall, fitness center with yoga studio and a day care center, among others.
“The Bellagio Palawan will serve as the gateway to Baytown Palawan,” said Javier Romeo Abustan, Megaworld Palawan vice president of sales and marketing. “Once completed, it will become a vibrant lifestyle estate that will mirror the excitement that characterized Forbes Town in BGC through the years.”
Turnover of units is expected by 2030.
The P7-billion Baytown is currently being developed with the company’s subsidiary, Suntrust Properties Inc. Apart from The Bellagio, it is set to have more residential condominium developments, hotels and commercial retail facilities, Megaworld said.
The 6-hectare property was launched last year as Megaworld’s second township in Palawan after the 462-hectare Paragua Coastown project in San Vicente.
The launch of The Bellagio came just days after Megaworld had unveiled Saint-Marcel Residences, the company’s fourth development inside its Capital Town township in Pampanga.
Megaworld has said that it wanted to expand its township portfolio to 35 by the end of the year.
It also recently launched in Ilocos Norte province the 84-hectare Ilocandia Coastown, its 34th township project overall.
The launches came after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had again slashed its benchmark interest rate. So far, the central bank has cut rates twice, for a total of 50 basis points to 6 percent.
Rate cuts signal a more optimistic environment for the real estate sector, as lower borrowing costs typically drive demand for mortgage loans.
Megaworld’s townships were the main drivers of net income growth in the first semester. During the period, its earnings rose by 9 percent to P8.55 billion, while revenues jumped by more than a fifth to P39.1 billion. INQ