CENTURY Properties Group, Inc. (CPG) plans to start developing its first horizontal economic housing projects, along with leisure and tourism developments, before the yearend as it moves to diversify the business.
The company is looking to launch two economic housing projects near the National Capital Region this year, its President and Chief Executive Officer Jose E. B. Antonio told reporters after an annual stockholders meeting in Makati City on Friday.
“We’re actually closing on major properties. Hopefully we will announce this in the next few weeks,” Mr. Antonio, who had served the Philippine government as ambassador, said when asked if CPG had already secured land for the housing projects.
The company intends initially to build 3,000 houses within a 26-hectare property and 5,000 within 44 hectares. It will invest P1 billion to P1.5 billion to develop every 10 hectares and generate 35% to 40% of gross margin.
“We are targeting first time homebuyers, which is a lot. You and I know that the average age of Filipinos is 24 years old so a lot of first [time] homebuyers will be buying, and they’re buying. That’s where the backlog is,” Mr. Antonio said.
In addition to this, CPGI is looking at starting to develop properties acquired in Batulao, Batangas and San Vicente, Palawan to take advantage of the expected influx of tourists in the Philippines. The company earlier announced an investment of P4 billion for the projects.
“San Vicente is actually the place where the international airport is going to be. We’re just waiting for the airport — the airport is finished, the facilities are finished plus the 3-kilometer runway,” Mr. Antonio said.
“They’re just waiting approval from the CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines). Local officials said they’re getting it by end of the year so if that happens we are going to launch our project in San Vicente,” he added.
The company also plans to finalize the blueprint for the Batangas property and start the development within the year.
“The figures in the Tagaytay area — on a weekend you get half a million people. So, everybody has disposable income now and because of the traffic in Metro manila, everybody wants to have a second home,” Mr. Antonio said.
The planned horizontal economic housing and tourism-related projects form part of the company’s strategy to diversify the business which is currently focused on vertical housing development.
“Currently, we are present in two operating segments, namely the vertical developments and investment properties. We are in the process of diversifying into two allied real еstatе segments, specifically leisure and tourism and horizontal economic housing,” CPG Chief Financial Officer Jose Carlo R. Antonio told stockholders during the meeting.
Shares in CPG rose one centavo, or 1.89%, to 54 centavos apiece on the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.
