MANILA – Green property developer Italpinas Development Corporation (IDC) will spend up to PHP3 billion next year to expand its residential projects in Batangas and Cagayan de Oro, to meet rising demand and to help address the housing backlog in the country.
IDC chairman and chief executive officer Romolo Nati said the company will break ground in 2019 for the second phases of Primavera City and Miramonte, which will have a mix of residential and commercial components.
“We are also exploring new projects in different areas. We want to be a national company having projects in all the islands in the Philippines,” he told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the company’s stockholders’ meeting.
Nati said it targets to raise PHP500 million from an offering of preferred shares to partly finance upcoming projects.
“We are focusing now in a fundraising activity so we can acquire more land and develop more projects in strategic areas as we have done so far. So the land acquisition will follow our proposition which is developing emerging cities,” he said.
IDC President, lawyer Jose Leviste III, remained upbeat about their business outlook next year despite concerns on inflation and interest rates.
“It’s possible but we haven’t felt it (impact) yet in such a way that we can attribute it to inflation. Generally, broader sales have been encouraging so we hope that the trend will continue. Of course inflation and interest rates will be part of the bigger picture but then, the organic growth and demand are still there so we are optimistic,” he said.
“We anticipated the growth of emerging cities, and we want to ride on that space,” Nati said.
Leviste said the company’s development projects can help address the housing backlog in the country.
Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia earlier cited data indicating that housing backlog reached two million as of December 2016.
The country will need around 6.8 million units over the next five years, amid rapid population growth, urbanization and rural-urban migration. (PNA)
