Real estate, one of the industries hardly hit by the global contagion, is seen to bounce back in 2023, as remittances from overseas Filipino workers are expected to increase this Christmas season.
One Filipinos Worldwide Partylist Rep. and National Real Estate Association chairperson emerita Marissa “Del Mar” Magsino said during the 31st anniversary celebration and installation of a new set of officers of the NREA that various stakeholders predicted the industry’s property values would recover in 2023 in the pre-sale and secondary markets.
“Property prices and rents can also expect percentage increases based on a rebound in local and foreign investor sentiments,” Magsino said.
This is as most industries and the economy already opened and restrictions on foreign investments were eased, leading to more employment and market competition.
“This, in turn, can increase the demand for more land, houses, buildings, and commercial space. Our Overseas Filipino Workers are expected to lead the push in residential demand in 2023 whose remittances contribute significantly to the country’s demand for housing units,” she said in her keynote address.
“Our ‘modern-day heroes’ are backing the country’s affordable to middle-income price segments of real estate in the Philippines,” she said.
University of Asia and the Pacific senior economist Cid Terosa said the expected influx of remittances ahead of the holidays would also help support the Philippine peso against the US dollar, as dollars sent home by OFWs usually surge before the year ends.
Thriving technology
Magsino said the thriving information technology and business process outsourcing sectors would demand more workforce, making the need for space also increase.
“The digitization of the core business processes and activities of the real estate industry will also enable developers and investors to reach out to a larger section of potential buyers, while property owners are kept updated on matters regarding their properties and investments,” she said.
The lawmaker said the Philippines was becoming a hot spot tourist destination in the Asia-Pacific, which would spur construction activities in the resort and hotel industries to accommodate the influx of international and domestic travelers.
“These developments and configurations point to a more progressive, competitive and viable real estate industry in the Philippines in the foreseeable future, and the industry will continue to play a significant role in the economic development of the country, particularly the nation’s drive to provide decent and affordable housing for our people, and technologically paced and environment-friendly business facilities and infrastructures for our investors and entrepreneurs,” she said.
Magsino said she filed House Bill 6275 or An Act Instituting a National Land Use Policy, Providing the Implementing Mechanisms and Appropriating Funds, among others, to further help the real estate industry.
“Congress has been tackling this policy concern for decades, but we have yet to enact a comprehensive land use policy. Now that I am a member of Congress, I will be at the forefront of policy-making and will ensure that we will institutionalize a national physical framework plan that would serve as a reference and guide in harmonizing sector-specific land-use policies,” she said.