Ayala Land resumes sales push

PUBLICLY-listed Ayala Land Inc. has recently revived its marketing efforts in the high-end residential property market as the effects of the global financial crisis begin to wane, company officials said.

In particular, the country’s leading real estate developer is putting its top-tier Serendra project in Taguig City on the front burner with a push to fill the last few available units of the development that is now four-fifths sold.

In a press briefing, Ayala Land Premier’s head of residential buildings, Melissa Gil, said the company was now capitalizing on the improving sentiment as buyers have begun hunting for investment opportunities once more.

“What we’ve found is that there are really many Filipino buyers out there who really have the money for investments like [in high-end residential property],” she said. “They’ve just been waiting for things to clear up.”

While sales of Ayala Land’s high-end developments slowed early this year when the global crisis peaked, buyers started coming back toward the end of the first half once they saw that the country would avoid the brunt of the meltdown, she explained.

“In the case of Serendra, sales never really stopped here,” she said, adding that about 80 percent of the project has now been sold to a mix of end users and investors.

About 80 percent of the entire 7.5-hectare project has now been completed, although several high-rise residential buildings set to be built on the property’s peripheries are to be completed over the next five years.

On top of its proximity to Makati City and the commercial areas of Bonifacio Global City, Serendra’s main selling point is the fact that 65 percent of the property is dedicated to open space inside the residential complex.

The complex houses several parks, playgrounds, jogging paths, swimming pools and a putting green.

One-bedroom units at the Serendra East Tower—the newest section of the compound—start at P13.1 million, all the way up to P41.4 million for three-bedroom units. Company officials added that the penthouse units of P50 million or more are the first to be sold whenever a new phase was launched.

Gil said that buyers who came in at the start of the preselling phase in March last year acquired their properties at P125,000 a square meter. This has since risen to P154,000 on the secondary market, giving early buyers a cumulative gain of 23 percent in just slightly over a year.

“What we have seen is that there really is a demand for projects like these, regardless of economic conditions,” she said.

Source: Inquirer http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20091025-232216/Ayala-Land-resumes-sales-push