Cebu Landmasters Inc., a listed property developer in the Visayas and Mindanao, on Wednesday said its reservation sales in the first half of the year expanded by 41 percent to P7.43 billion, from P5.26 billion last year.
The company said the increase was driven by the purchases of local buyers, which offset the fall in the house-buying activities of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Until the end of last year, Cebu Landmasters said about 40 percent of its buyers were mostly OFWs. That figure dropped by half in the second quarter when VisMin was under lockdown, but local residents picking up the slack. It did not give the breakdown of buyers.
The company said its reservation sales came mostly from cities affected by the pandemic, like Cebu City which accounted for some 40 percent its sales.
Iloilo City and Cagayan de Oro, meanwhile, accounted for 23 percent and 19 percent of sales, respectively. These are classified as low-risk areas by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases along with Bacolod, which contributed 10 percent of sales, and Bohol at 8 percent.
“The pandemic has heightened the realization that good housing means good health. In March, we began helping our buyers afford our homes by offering stretched payment terms and other promotions. Market response has been overwhelming and we are now speeding up plans to offer our flagship Casa Mira residential brand to more VisMin cities,” said Jose Soberano III, company chairman and CEO.
Casa Mira, an economic housing community development, accounted for 65 percent of first half sales. Its residential units are priced from P1.5 million to P3 million and require a monthly amortization of P4,000 to P5,000 a month after units are turned over.
Meanwhile, the company’s garden series for the mid-market buyers, accounted for 26 percent of sales.
Soberano said he is optimistic that the company would be able to meet its year-end sales targets.
The construction on the majority of its projects continued during the lockdown period in 13 cities in the Visayas and Mindanao where it is allowed by the respective local government units provided social distancing and other safety measures were strictly enforced, the company said.