SM Development Corp., the residential unit of SM Prime Holdings Inc., plans to increase reservation sales by 25 percent this year from P57.8 billion in 2017 on strong demand, SM Development executive vice president Jose Mari Banzon said over the weekend.
Banzon said the residential developer planned to launch over 15,000 residential units this year, with the company experiencing strong sales both from the domestic and international buyers.
SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim last week reported that Chinese buyers accounted for almost 30 percent of SMDC’s reservation sales in the first quarter of 2018.
Lim said the company was also looking to post a “mid teens” growth in net income in the first quarter of 2018 on strong residential sales and higher mall revenues.
Banzon, meanwhile, said the company was poised to launch the next three residential towers, in Chengdu, China, around August this year. The three are part of the company’s seven-tower residential project in Chengdu.
Banzon said the first two residential towers in China were warmly received by Chinese buyers with the first tower sold out in one day.
“We expect the same results for the next three towers,” Banzon said. The last two residential towers in China will be launched in 2019.
Because of positive response on the group’s residential project in China, Banzon said the company was in search of three additional sites in China for possible expansion.
“We are looking to two to three sites within the Fujian province for residential development,” Banzon said.
Also set to be launched this year is SMDC’s first high-end project in partnership with Federal Land Inc. Jenniffer B. Austria
The prime property along Ayala Avenue will be developed and designed “cut above” the rest and will be the most premium development in the Makati central business district.
SMDC and Federal Land of GT Capital Holdings Inc. in 2016 formed a 50:50 joint venture partnership to develop a 3,400 square meter high-end residential tower along Ayala Avenue.
SMDC which has been known for developing condominium projects catering to the middle-income market recently diversified into other segments of the markets, including affordable, high-end and house and lot developments.