IEC participants to benefit condominium owners

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2015/06/24/iec-participants-benefit-condominium-owners-415081
• Wednesday, June 24, 2015

By Jeandie O. Galolo

CONDOMINIUM investors may benefit from the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), which will draw more than 50,000 people to Cebu in January next year.

Anthony Leuterio, president of online rental portal Rent.ph, said the big number of IEC guests from all over the world cannot all be accommodated in Cebu’s hotels. Hence, condominium owners, particularly investors, can take advantage of this market demand.

Turnover

In the case of Contempo Holdings Inc., developer of a three-tower condominium project Bamboo Bay Community in Mandaue City, president and chief executive officer Beverly Dayanan said they are fast-tracking the first tower’s completion and turnover in time for the IEC.

“The turnover of Tower 1 is scheduled later this year,” Dayanan told reporters at the sidelines of the topping off ceremony of Tower 2. Tower 1 is composed of more than 200 units and a hundred of them are fully-furnished. This, according to the official, makes it more convenient for condo owners to rent out their spaces anytime. Tower 1 is already sold out, Dayanan said.

Instead of the five-year development and construction masterplan, Dayanan said Bamboo Bay is ahead of schedule, cutting the process down to four years.

Tower 2 is set for turnover in November next year while the last tower’s completion is eyed in the last quarter of 2017.

For the IEC, Leuterio said Rent.ph is actively marketing Bamboo Bay as a preferred site to accommodate guests, primarily because of the project’s location being in the middle of Mandaue City and Cebu City.

For lease

Although the church is also encouraging Cebuanos to accommodate IEC guests in their own homes, Leuterio said there are others who prefer to stay in their own private place. This is where condominium investors, who lease out their units to others for income, earn from the thousands of international guests, which he projected can go beyond 50,000.

Should Pope Francis decide to attend the IEC, Leuterio said the number of guests will increase exponentially.

Buyers’ profile

“In real estate (buying), most of the time, 70 percent of them are investors, only 20 percent are end-users, and 10 percent of them are flippers,” Leuterio said.

Flippers, according to him, are those who purchase a property such as a condominium unit, and resell it at a time when they see that the property’s price has significantly increased.

For Bamboo Bay Community, studio units of 22 to 23 square meters of floor area were initially sold at P1.8 million per unit in 2013. The price has jumped by more than 20 percent in a span of two years at P2.2 million.

There are 750 units in Bamboo Bay. Tower 2 is 80 percent sold, but it is expecting to reach a sold out status within the year. Tower 3, meanwhile, has sold 20 percent and the company is looking to sell 50 percent of the remaining units of the tower within 2016.

Priority

Dayanan said the company is also thinking of future expansions. But for now, they are prioritizing the smooth turnover of Bamboo Bay units to homeowners.