Group expects real estate growth in Davao City 

A real estate organization is optimistic in the growth of the real estate industry this year as more infrastructure projects are being built or completed, according to a report by SunStar.

"In recent years, Davao City as a whole... had an increase in real estate development particularly in residential and commercial sectors... being built to cater to the growing demand for [...] spaces, such as office spaces,” Gilbert Monecillo, Accredited Real Estate Salespersons of the Philippines (Acres) Davao chapter president, said in a press conference in Apo View Hotel, May 2.

Monecillo mentioned recent developments like the anticipated high priority bus system (HPBS) and opening of different real estate developments scattered throughout the region.

"For Davao, yes it’s (real estate) booming, [the trend in Davao is] when there is a developer, they launch a project, it sells out in like one week to two months,” Monecillo said in an ambush interview.

"There’s so much inventory and affordable [real property] monthly, so I encourage all of those who want to invest to take advantage of the booming real estate in Davao City,” Monecillo added.

He also said most of the Davao City real estate buyers are overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

"For Davao, most of our [real estate] buyers are OFWs around 70 to 80 percent, and there are so many projects today that are being pre-selling,” Monecillo said.

Meanwhile, Chris Malazarte, ACRES national president, said the trend of the increasing real estate buyers, with mostly OFWs, shows the "positive” market for the region has been consistent despite the pandemic.

"Even during the pandemic times, we still were doing good business at that time, the slow down was rather temporary in nature, yet after the pandemic we’re able to bounce back so easily,” Malazarte said.

Reportedly, the Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest data noted that the real estate and ownership of dwellings grew by 5.9 percent in 2022 from -15.6 percent in 2021.

"That (real estate growth in Davao Region) probably has something to do with the OFWs that have been deployed over the past decades that made them think to really make sure what they earned hardly in their work had to be invested in safe instruments like real estate,” Malazarte added.

Malazarte added it is the Dabawenyo’s discipline and its land area that investors see in Davao.

"Davao has always been the darling of the investors recently... precisely because Davao is a good primary example of growth, discipline and of course, land mass,” Malazarte said.

"Those are the factors that have contributed to the fact that many real estate developers are looking for opportunities here,” Malazarte added.