PROPERTY MARKET. Online real estate classified website Lamudi holds The Outlook 2020: Roundtable Series at Makati Shangri-La on Wednesday (March 11, 2020). Panelists discussing the trends in the local property market include (from left to right) International Workplace Group Country Manager Lars Wittig, Federal Land, Inc. Executive Vice President Catherine Ko, Colliers International Philippines Senior Manager for Research Joey Bondoc, and PHINMA Property Holdings Corp. Chief Executive Officer Raphael Felix. (PNA photo by Kris Crismundo)
MANILA – The country’s property market has been stable so far for the past months amid the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
During Lamudi’s The Outlook 2020: Roundtable Series in Makati City Wednesday, Federal Land, Inc. Executive Vice President Catherine Ko said the company does not feel any harsh impact of Covid-19 to its business.
Ko said buyers might hold off purchasing the property with the uncertainties brought by the virus outbreak, but not to the point of abandoning their plans to invest.
This was also echoed by PHINMA Property Holdings Corp. chief executive officer Raphael Felix, saying the company’s performance in the first two months of the year and the first week of March was better than expected.
“If this escalates so bad, people don’t work, you can’t contact sellers, there’s nobody manning computers, there’s no trippings being made, then I see it slowing down. But other than that, I don’t see the market slowing down,” said Felix, who is also the chairman of Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA).
Although manufacturers in China are back in their operations and can supply the construction demands, both developers feared the local transmission of Covid-19 may affect the local workers.
“In terms of supply of raw materials for our buildings, we are still good at this moment,” Ko said. “What we are watching out is this disease spreading locally because it might affect our construction workers. And then, when we don’t have workers constructing our buildings then, we will be delayed.”
Felix added banning of shipments from China will be a concern for the developers, aside from the threat of Covid-19 affecting the construction workers.
There are now 33 Covid-19 cases in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Colliers International Philippines Senior Manager for Research Joey Bondoc said one of the major concerns in the property market amid the coronavirus outbreak is the travel ban from China.
Bondoc said this means Chinese involved in Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) activities here cannot enter the country.
Before the Covid-19, POGO activities were propelling the real estate market, driving demands in both office and residential markets. (PNA)
