Study shows Manila property market becoming more attractive

MANILA, Philippines—Once a regional laggard, Manila is getting to be one of Asia-Pacific’s most appealing property markets amid escalating concerns over high property prices in China’s core markets.

According to the findings of recent research published by Urban Land Institute and PwC “Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2013,” Manila ranked 11th out of 22 regional markets ranked in terms of investment prospects and ninth in terms of development prospects, marking a rapid rise from near the bottom of the rankings in previous years’ polls.

Manila was ranked 18th in the outlook for 2012 and 20th in the two years before that.  This is the 7th edition of this trends and forecasts publication, which is based on the opinions of more than 400 internationally renowned real estate professionals, investors and other stakeholders.

Colin Galloway, principal author of the report, said in a presentation Thursday night he was surprised that the Philippine did not rank higher given the number of positive developments in this market.  But he said that, since it usually takes time for all recent developments to be digested by the market, next year’s edition would likely show even more favorable results, even catapulting this market to a leading position.

Manila has fared well in specific property segments, especially in the secondary or rental apartment residential segment, where it ranked second to Jakarta.  The ranking was based on the percentage of “buy” recommendations of survey respondents as opposed to “hold” or “sell.” Jakarta had a “buy” rating from 43.62 percent while Manila had 36.46 percent.    The residential rental segment is where Manila got its best rating in this report but it also ranked high in office (6th) and hotel (8th) property segments.