Real estate consultancy firm PRIME Philippines capped off the year by holding an exclusive virtual event with the top stakeholders of the real estate sector on December 17, 2020. The event delved into the general direction for the Philippine economy in 2021. A real estate outlook for the year was also presented along with the forecasts of major developers and industry leaders. The real estate stakeholders’ night kicked off with Mr. Francis Kong, one of the most respected business speakers in the country, giving the opening remarks and discussing the importance of leaders’ roles in guiding their people where there are opportunities amidst the crisis. He then reminded everyone that the COVID-19 pandemic is not a dead-end but only a detour. The opening remarks were succeeded by the presentations of Rosemarie Edillon, the Undersecretary for Policy and Planning of National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and a representative on behalf of Francisco Dakila, Jr., the Deputy Governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Their reports highlighted the strong economic and financial position of the Philippines pre-COVID-19 as well as its overall performance during the pandemic. Despite contracting by 10% from Q1 to Q3, the country’s lowest recorded economic growth in 21 years, both government agencies have noted improvements on the quarter-to-quarter basis, which could indicate a potentially fast recovery once economic activities revert to usual operations. The real estate industry’s contribution to the country’s economic growth was also discussed and both agencies are looking forward to its further contributions post-pandemic. Both NEDA and BSP ended their presentations with a hopeful note, forecasting the Philippine economy’s slow recovery in 2021 with a projected growth of 6.5% to 7.5% and huge bounce back in 2022 with an expected growth rate of 8.0% to 10.0%. According to PRIME Philippines’ Founder & CEO, Jet Yu, 2021 will be a year of decentralization as developers continue to explore emerging cities for townships, industrial developments, and horizontal housing, following the hub and spoke model. There will also be an abrupt need to adapt in 2021 as market demand and preference continue to change. Among all the sectors, industrial will be in the limelight for 2021, with logistics and e-commerce activities to drive the sector as the country adapts to digitalization. Retail, on the other hand, is seen to have a demand shift to community formats wherein landlords are highly considering increasing their presence outside malls that are near communities such as subdivisions, villages, townships, and residential condominiums. Yu ended his forecast with the anticipated boom of the use of property technology in the country. Despite 2020 being a challenging year, major developers such as Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), Damosa Land Inc. (DLI), D.M. Wenceslao and Associates, Inc. (DMWAI), ISOC Land (I-Land), Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC), and Torre Lorenzo Development Corp (TLDC) revealed their fearless forecasts for the year: “2021 would be a promising year where we will be rising up to the challenge of rebuilding what we have lost in 2020. For RLC, it will be an exciting year as we will launch our new brand with digital focus.” – Arch. Henry Yap, Senior VP – Business Unit General Manager, RLC “A year full of hope. There is a lot of rebound, recovery, and growth.” – Jose Soberano, Chairmand & CEO, CLI “While a rebound is expected in 2021, the upswing can only be determined on when will the country’s economy be fully open again, [which] is dependent on the timeline of the distribution of the vaccines.” – May Lopez, VP and Business Unit Head, I-Land “2021 will be the start of recovery of the economy. We can [now] see a lot more confidence not just in deals but everything from eating out to watching movies to travelling and we will start to see the major effect in terms of the number of deal flow and the productivity in the real estate market.” – Buds Wenceslao, CEO, DMWAI “Next year will still be survival of the fittest, there will still be businesses that will have a tough time depending on their business model. A little bit more of what we had to do in 2020, but hopefully with a lot more recovery.” – Cary Lagdameo, Vice President, DLI “Demand for real estate will bounce back with schools reopening and the housing backlog remaining high. The reopening of the economy has reinjected confidence in the market. 2021 will be a year of recovery and growth.” – Tomas Lorenzo, CEO & President, TLDC All are same in seeing 2021 as a promising year filled with hope, growth, and rebuilding. PRIME Philippines is the leading real estate consultancy firm for emerging markets with offices in Manila, Cebu and Davao, garnering over USD 400 million in successful deals, over 3,000 clients served, and covering over 60% of the cities of the Philippines. Interested individuals and organizations may go to this link to subscribe: https://realestateintelligence.primephilippines.com or visit their website at https://primephilippines.com/. For replays of past webinars and online events, please refer to: https://primephilippines.com/press-room/.

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