MANILA, Philippines—Property developer Century Properties Group jacked up its net profit in the first three months by 310 percent year on year to P453.5 million in the first quarter driven by a robust residential property business.
Total revenue for January to March jumped to P2.48 billion, up by 121 percent from the same period last year.
“There continues to be a strong demand for residential property in the Philippines. We have experienced this through our record growth in 2011 and this quarter, contrary to initial concerns about an oversupply of units. After booking P18.4 billion of pre-sales in 2011, Century’s pre-sales for first quarter of 2012 was P5.3 billion consisting of 812 units, allowing Century to remain on track of its P20 billion pre-sales target for full year 2012,” said Century chief financial officer Jose Carlo Antonio.
“Given that the real estate industry is benefiting from a continuous low interest regime, expanding population, tamed inflation rates, and a rise in the middle class where home-buying remains to be a prime aspiration, Century has been able to achieve one of the highest growth rates in the real estate sector. It has transformed itself from a one-building developer to a destination mixed-used developer in multiple price points in the Metro Manila area,” Antonio added.
While continuing to develop luxury projects including the Trump Tower Manila and Milano Residences in Century City, which the company said were now 68 percent and over 70 percent sold respectively, Century has expanded in the middle-income market through Acqua Residences in Mandaluyong City. The developer has likewise fully sold three out of six buildings and is currently pre-selling the fourth building, the Livingstone Residences by MissoniHome.
The company also cited the success of its “affordable” residential line with its first project called Azure Urban Resort Residences in Parañaque City, which has fully sold five out of nine buildings.
Based on launched property projects, Century said its projects have been 83 percent pre-sold. The company is also set to deliver Gramercy Residences by end-2012 while construction of the Century City Mall is ongoing and is targeted for completion by 2013.