MASS-housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. re-opened its in-house financing window to prop up the sales of its Vitas, Tondo project.
8990 President Januario Jesus Gregorio B. Atencio III said sales of units in the Tondo township project was “just okay” during the first few months after it was launched in 2015.
“We’re still not satisfied. We can do better. One of the things that we did for this project when we started was to limit sales to Pag-IBIG [Home Development Mutual Fund] members,” Atencio said at the sidelines of the groundbreaking of the company’s Deca Mall on Wednesday.
“We’ve brought back in house CTS [contract to sell] for this project and, judging from the response, I think we can double the sales of this project,” Atencio said sans giving figures.
Atencio earlier said the company decided to stop its in-house financing in favor of direct takeouts from the Pag-Ibig Fund, which, he said can more than accommodate the sales for the 8990 Deca Homes Manila township project.
The project will have a total of more than 13,000 units composed of 13 buildings on an 8.4-hectare lot, which is located in the most populated area in the country’s capital.
Prices start at about P1.17 million for a 23-square meter (sq m) studio unit and P1.9 million for a 30-sq-m two-bedroom unit.
Atencio added many buyers do not have Pag-IBIG Fund, while those who do are not qualified to purchase a unit.
Average monthly Pag-Ibig amortization amounts to about P9,000 per month, while 8990 Holdings’s in-house financing is at P11,000 to P12,000. Atencio said the company may start this year to turn over units in the three towers to their respective owners. He added the firm will finish the remaining 10 towers on schedule.
“Some 70 percent of our buyers will live in the units they bought and only 30 percent use it as investment. We have buyers, like teachers and policemen,” Atencio said.
On Wednesday the company broke ground on its P452-million Deca Mall, which will have a gross leasable area of 14,000 sq m. The mall will be operational by next year when the initial tenants of the township are expected to have settled down in their new homes.
This is the first time the company will venture into the mall business, after the operator of Waltermart walked away from a deal to manage 8990 Holdings’s retail space.
The Tondo mall will have two floors that will have 95 tenants and 130 stores. Atencio said the stores are designed to entice operators of small and medium enterprises.
He added the shopping mall will be packaged as an amenity of the residential project, a deliberate move from the part of 8990 to bring down the cost of living in the company-built condominium buildings.