South Luzon developer to foray into socialized housing

AFTER serving the middle income and economic housing segments for more than two decades, South Luzon property developer Calmar Land Development Corp. (CLDC) prepares to enter new locations and market segments for further growth.

CLDC describes itself as the dominant market player in the Quezon province, with projects in Lucena City, Pagbilao, Tayabas, and Lucban. Also present in Batangas and Laguna, the company has developed over 500 hectares of land covering the three areas since it was established in 1989.

The company looks to enter into the socialized housing segment this year, citing the 6.2-million housing backlog in the country, most of which come from low-income families.

“We would want to go down (to that market) precisely because we want to make a dent in the housing backlog of 6.2 million. And then Pag-IBIG is very strong toward supporting the socialized housing segment,” CLDC Chief Operations Officer Raymundo G. Alonso told reporters during a media roundtable in Makati City on Thursday.

Mr. Alonso noted the state-run PagIBIG program, or Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), is favorable towards the economic segment, priced below P1.7 million as it offers a loan-tocollateral ratio of up to 95%.

“HDMF will go to as high as 95% of the loanable account. This is favorable to starting families,” Mr. Alonso said.

The CLDC executive also said that while there are smaller margins in the socialized housing segment, projects are at a substantially bigger scale.

To complement the company’s residential offerings, CLDC is also planning to establish commercial projects within the next three years.

“We will also go into mixed use development. We have identified areas in Quezon, in Lucena, where we will develop a mixed use type of development, where we will have vertical developments more for commercial use, for the leisure industry,” Mr. Alonso said.

In terms of new geographic areas, CLDC plans to expand its footprint to Bulacan, citing its growth potential province due to its proximity to Metro Manila and the completion of the Metro Rail Transit Line-7 (MRT-7). The MRT7 will run from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan to the unified central station at North Avenue, Quezon City.

The company is currently conducting a feasibility study for the development of a mid-rise residential building in the area, which would have between 13 to 18 floors. CLDC will be targeting the middle income to upper middle income segment in Bulacan, with each unit to be priced at around P5 million.

This year, CLDC is targeting a 50% growth in reservation sales to P2 billion, after delivering a 38% increase in reservation sales to more than P1 billion in 2017. The company attributed the increase to robust sales in its 4.8-hectare Promesa Pila project located in Laguna since it was launched in April 2017.

Promesa Pila offers 480 residential units, priced between P900,000 to P1.5 million each. The company expects the project, which has a total sales value of P800 million, to be sold out by 2019.

“For the first quarter of 2018, we’re happy to note that the target was achieved, and there was an increase of about 80% comparing it from our 2017 first quarter production... so we are very much on track ( for 2018 targets),” CLDC National Sales Head Emmanuel D. Pablo said during the roundtable.

Moving forward, the company has around 200 hectares of land in Quezon, Batangas, and Laguna available for development in the coming years.