Ayala raises price of luxury condo by 13% in a year
The heavy-hitters who signed up last year during the pre-selling of Park Central Towers will see their investments appreciate by a healthy 13 percent clip by next week.
Come Nov. 3, Ayala Land will increase by four percent the selling price of the few remaining units in Tower 1 of its luxury twin-tower project at the corner of Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas, where the Mandarin hotel once stood. The Nov. 3 increase will be the fourth imposed since Ayala launched the first tower in August 2016, where the average price at that time for the ultra-luxury development worked to around P300,000 a square meter, VAT not yet included, the country's highest.
As of last week, 12 condos were still available, 16 were under negotiation, and 253 were considered sold, according to an Ayala Land sales document.
On the other hand, one third of the second tower had already been booked sold amid a series of invitational pre-selling events ahead of another round of price increase by December.
When Park Central Towers was launched last year, condo prices ranged from P32 million, the “cheapest” and smallest cut at 138 square meters, to the over-thetop, three-level penthouse with a 1,635-sqm spread and its own 281-sqm pool deck.
It was snapped right away for P477 million, even though the penthouse will not be delivered until July 2024, seven years from now, at the earliest.
The impending Ayala increase will come even with the first half of 2017 findings by property consultant Colliers that average rents for prime three-bedroom units in Makati have declined between 0.7 percent and 3.0 percent per quarter in the last 12 months to June amid rising vacancy rates.
According to Colliers, Rockwell Center still commanded the highest rent and a healthy lead at P891/sqm a month, against Makati’s P818 and Ortigas’ P812.
The second half vacancy rates for Makati stood at 12.7 percent, up from 10.9 percent in March, Colliers said, while Fort Bonifacio vacancy had risen from 12.4 to 14 percent.
“The double-digit vacancy rates in these submarkets are not surprising considering the size of available stock in these locations,” Colliers said. “Ortigas and Rockwell Center have lower vacancy growth rates given the limited number of new developments in those areas.”
Ayala loses 1/3 of its shirt in Malaysia
Just like its aborted entry to Myanmar and its earlier liquidation of a property venture in China, Ayala Land is finding that its foray into Malaysia an uphill slog.
Two years after the country’s premiere developer acquired one third of listed development and construction company MCT Bhd, the Ayala Land stake has already lost one-third of its value.
Yesterday, MCT Bhd was trading at Malaysian ringgit 0.82-0.83, against the private placement price of ringgit 1.28 that Ayala subscribed to prior to MCT's backdoor listing.
Its one-year return has been negative 24.55 percent, despite the property index of the Kuala Lumpur Composite index reporting over 12 percent return for the first half of this year.
To help check expenses and keep costs down, Ayala Land installed its chief financial officer, Maria Rochelle Diaz, since June as CFO of the Malaysian venture.
Cebu Pacific aborts Sandakan service
And speaking of Malaysia, Cebu Pacific has cancelled its planned Zamboanga-Sandakan service that was due to launch this Sunday.
Cebu Pacific had intended to field an ATR72 turboprop for the planned four weekly flights.
Four years ago, PAL Express also aborted the launch of a similar service between the two trading cities, in the wake of the armed incursion into Sabah by militants from Tawi-Tawi.
Heard through the grapevine
To the consternation of the pro-Duterte bloggers and columnists, Rappler CEO and thought leader Maria Ressa has been chosen to moderate a panel discussion on Build Build Build during the Nov. 13-14 ASEAN business and investment summit at the Solaire casino resort.
Then again, Solaire boss and host Enrique Razon Jr. is one of the panelists and hopefully the Spanish mestizo could prevail on Ressa to curb her enthusiasm in scoring political points against you-know-who before an international VIP audience.
Watch out if Razon's nervous tick is back before the forum starts.
E-mail: moneygoround.manila@yahoo.com