Dubai: A considerable proportion of Filipinos working in the UAE, estimated to be around 600,000, may just be holding out for their “dream home” due to lack of opportunities to explore property options.
With that in mind, realtors from the Philippines have flown into Dubai to provide a one-stop shop for Filipino expatriates wanting to invest in real estate back home.
Major developers who have constructed high-profile real estate projects in the Philippines including Ayala land, Robinsons Land and Century Properties are showcasing their projects at the first “Pinoy Property Show” in Dubai at the Dusit Thani hotel starting today until Saturday (April 27).
As of 2012, Century Properties reportedly sold nearly all (92 per cent) of its 23 launched residential and commercial buildings in Metro Manila. Apart from its huge portfolio of residential projects, Ayala Land and Robinsons Land are set to unveil four new retail developments and four new shopping malls respectively this year, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report.
Maricel Ilagan Elsherbini, exhibition manager at Alpha Conferences, the organiser of the show, there is a huge pent-up demand for property buying from the expatriate community in the UAE. A key indicator is the amount of remittances that UAE-based workers remit to the Philippines every year.
The Philippines’ central bank reported that cash remittances by Filipinos from the UAE reached $960 million in 2012, up 9.4 per cent from more than $877 million in 2011. A Reuters report quoted by the show’s organisers also noted that a third of remittances from Filipinos in the Gulf are used to build homes in their home country.
“There’s an untapped demand here. Real estate has always been the most preferred investment by the majority of Filipinos. In fact, I received a lot of calls from Filipinos about the show. They’re glad to know that an event such as this is being organised because it provides an opportunity for them to look into the different options available and get some guidance on how they can invest,” Elsherbini told Gulf News.
Organisers expect to attract at least 1,000 visitors during the first day of the show. Besides the developers, representatives from the state-run Pag-IBIG Fund, the Philippines’ major source of funds for homebuyer financing assistance, are also in town to respond to queries from interested buyers.
To drum up further investor interest, one of the exhibitors at the show, Robinsons Land, promised to give away discounts to the first 50 buyers.
Due to high take-up levels, the construction activity in the Philippines’ real estate market has accelerated in recent years. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, around 154,000 condominium units are scheduled for completion between 2012 and 2016, compared to 87,000 units completed between 2007 and 2011.
