Key Findings Of Lamudi Philippines’ 2015 Research Report

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Prospective homebuyers and real estate professionals are generally optimistic about the Philippine real estate market in 2016. These are just two of the key findings of a research report recently released by global property website Lamudi Philippines (www.lamudi.com.ph).

Lamudi used data from its Q2 2014 to Q1 2015 onsite search, the results of 2015 survey involving real estate professionals and its website’s users, and its listings data to put together the research paper. Below are 11 of its key findings.


1. Metro Manila the most preferred location

In Lamudi’s survey conducted in 2015, more than half (55.05%) of the respondents cited Metro Manila as their preferred area for their property purchase, with Quezon City being the most preferred city (19.47%), followed by Makati (8.65%), and Manila (8.41%).

Cebu Province is the second most cited area by those looking for a property (6.97%), followed by the Province of Cavite (6.73%). It should be noted that these provinces are home to highly populated and popular cities for homebuyers, including Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue (Cebu Province) and Bacoor, Imus, and Dasmariñas (Cavite).


2. Filipinos in general are optimistic about home-owning

Lamudi’s survey found that 79.6% of respondents said they’re looking to move house in the future. An overwhelming majority—94.86%—is searching for houses, while 2.42% are looking for a condo, and 1.21% looking for townhouse.

The survey also found that 79.57% of the respondents cite the Internet as their starting point when searching for a property. They cited real estate websites, search engines, and social media websites as their starting points when searching for property.


3. Reasons for moving house

The survey also asked the respondents reasons why they are looking to move house. The most commonly cited reasons were: planning to purchase their own property (79.57%), area preference (either looking for a better area, planning to move to another city, or planning to live close to relatives) as the primary reason for their impending move (14.66%), proximity to schools (1.44%), and work-related relocation (2.4%).


4. Real estate professionals’ observations

Real estate professionals are equally optimistic about the industry. In the survey, 36% of them said that banks’ more stringent housing loan approval has little or moderate effect on the housing market, specifically the buyer side. In addition, 51% and 53% of them said that political climate and economic uncertainty will have minimal effect on the housing market.


5. More real estate professionals now online

The survey showed that 59% of the surveyed professionals cited online listings platform as their most widely used online channel to advertise their property listings. In addition, only few of the surveyed professionals use offline channels to advertise their listings: traditional media (12%) and their organization’s MLS (10%), and referral from fellow agents (1%).


6. Ten Philippine cities now have average home price of over Php10 million

City	Ave. House Price (Php)
Makati	217.3 million
Muntinlupa	55.88 million
Taguig	34.37 million
Mandaluyong	21.08 million
Pasig	18.96 million
San Juan	17.66 million
Cebu	15.03 million
Quezon City	14.75 million
Tagaytay	13.35 million
Parañaque	12.18 million

Using Paranaque as an example, a homebuyer who plans to buy a house in this city needs to make Php4.8 million per year (using the 2.5 rule) in order to afford the city’s average home price.

According to Investopedia, a prospective homeowner can afford to mortgage a home that costs approximately 2.5 times his gross annual income. If a person makes Php50,000 per month (Php600,000 per year), he can afford a property that costs Php1.5 million.


7. Makati and Taguig are the Philippines’ most expensive condo markets

Lamudi analysis shows that Makati and Taguig has some of the Philippines’ most expensive condos in Q1 2015. Makati’s average condo price (per sqm) is Php139,503 (US$3,090), while Taguig condos have average asking prices of Php125,031 per sqm (US$2,770).

However, using data from Global Property Guide, Metro Manila is considered a bargain when you compare it to other key cities in Asia. In Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Bangkok, the average prices of condos stand $22,814, $15,251, $10,784, $6,932, and $3,952 per sqm, respectively. Metro Manila, however, is more expensive than Jakarta ($2,766/sqm) and Kuala Lumpur ($2,616/sqm).


8. More property developers focusing on affordable housing

HLURB data shows total licenses to sell declined 15.35% y-on-y to August 2015, due mainly to the drop in the issuances of non-residential projects (memorial parks and parking units).

However, there has been an increase in the number of new applications for low-income housing. The number of LTS for socialized housing, doubled as of August 2015 (year to date) from the same period in 2014.

There have also been significant increases in numbers of LTS issued by the HLURB for mid-income housing (56.58 percent increase) and low-cost condominiums (22.18 percent).


9. Metro Manila’s share of onsite search volume decreasing

Although Metro Manila is the most searched region in the Philippines for online house-hunters, its share of search volume among all regions is decreasing:

● 78.55% in Q2 2014
● 63.21% in Q3 2014
● 58.9% in Q4 2014
● 55.1% in Q1 2015

In contrast, other regions saw their search volume and share increase every quarter:

CALABARZON

● 7.89% in Q2 2014
● 12.67% in Q3 2014
● 13.29% in Q4 2014
● 14.71% in Q1 2015

Central Visayas

● 6.09% in Q2 2014
● 8.66% in Q3 2014
● 9.99% in Q4 2014
● 11.99% in Q1 2015

Search volume for CALABARZON’s surged on average 130% quarter-on-quarter from Q2 2014 to Q1 2015, while that for Central Visayas increased on average 104% quarter-on-quarter from Q2 2014 to Q1 2015.


10. Most searched cities

Quezon City—the most-searched city on the Lamudi Philippines platform—generated 244,456 searches for Q1 2015, of which 37.3% were searches for for-sale properties (regardless of property type) and 15.6 percent were searches for rental properties.

Makati is the Philippines’ second most searched city. Of the total 116,451 searches conducted in the same period, 51 percent were for properties—specifically condos—for rent, while 33.9 percent were for for-sale properties.

Paranaque, Pasig, and Mandaluyong are the third, fourth, and fifth most searched cities in the Philippines. On average, search traffic increased 75%, 71%, and 74%, respectively, every quarter from Q2 2014 to Q1 2015.


11. Most searched property types

Condos were the most searched among website users looking for rental properties, while houses were preferred by those looking for property for sale.

Quezon City is the most searched city for houses for sale: 54.8% of those looking at the city are searching for houses for sale, while 8.7% are searching for house for rent.

Makati generated the greatest volume of searches for condos, of which 61.1% were for rentals (while 33.6% percent were looking for for-sale condos).

To read Lamudi Philippines’ 2015 White Paper, go to www.lamudi.com.ph/research/whitepaper-2015/

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