Suntrust Properties acquires Stateland to help address the housing backlog
For most Filipinos, owning a home is a dream. However, the growing demand for housing is pushing up prices, making that dream less and less attainable. Thankfully, there are real estate companies in the market that want to help fulfill this dream by offering houses at affordable prices without sacrificing quality nor style.
Suntrust Properties, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Megaworld Corp., is one of those companies. The company is known for providing affordably priced homes and master-planned communities to the Filipino market. It combines well-thought-out designs, which focuses on space-saving and functionality features, delivering a high standard of comfort and style customized to the needs oF moderate-income Filipino families.
Recently, Suntrust has acquired bulk of the shares of Stateland, as approved by the Philippine Competition Commission in a two-page decision last June 21. Megaworld also purchased a portion of the shares to complete the share acquisition to 97 percent of Stateland.
Stateland, for its part, is known for building affordable quality homes and well-developed communities in South Luzon, particularly Cavite and Laguna, and some parts of Metro Manila. It has also built upscale properties around Metro Manila including townhouse developments, residential and office condominiums; and several industrial and agricultural developments in Bulacan, Cavite and Pasig City.
Suntrust president Atty. Harrison Paltongan clarified that the acquisition was not born out of the latter company having financial issues: “In fact, it is a profitable company that sustained its growth through internally generated funds.”
Paltongan further explained the significance of the acquisition of Stateland, “As part of the Alliance Global Inc., we were mandated by our chairman (Andrew Tan) to complete the real estate group by forming another company that would focus on the lower segment of the housing market. Megaworld focuses on the high-end projects, the middle and upper-middle projects are handled by Empire East Land Holdings, we have Suntrust which is already in the medium and open-market segment; so we are not serving a very important segment, which is the low-cost housing. Instead of forming a new company, we thought of acquiring Stateland which has a very good track record that spans 42 years with impressive projects as well. And when you have that, you can say that the Megaworld Group now offers a complete package, a supermarket of residential houses and condominiums, with a wide range of prices.“
Paltongan also shared the importance of the acquisition of Stateland, “We want Stateland to focus on the low-cost projects because the lower end is where you find the housing backlog. The government says that the backlog now is 5.5 million, so socially and morally, we feel it is our duty to be involved to address the housing needs of the country.”
“We are now looking for areas to be developed for the socialized and economic segments. One of our considerations for choosing the area of development is its proximity to places of work (i.e., factories, offices, business centers). Two, the land component must not be very expensive since we have a price cap for socialized and economic housing. We are trying to balance things in terms of cost and pricing because not a lot of people want to get involved in these kinds of projects because it is not very profitable and entails so much work.”
There is a misconception when it comes to developments being called low-cost. “I am not in favor of calling it low-cost because when you say low-cost, it means ‘poor quality.’ I prefer calling it ‘affordable’ because it means it’s something you pay affordably (i.e., easy or flexible payment terms) but the quality is good.”
“The quality should still be regardless of price and technology used. For each peso you pay, you should be getting more. This has been Suntrust’s guiding principle- to give more, for less. Thus, if you compare the sizes of the lots and houses that we develop, I can tell you that we are selling them at lower prices. It does not mean, however, that the quality of our houses is worse than other products.” he stressed.
“We want to assure everyone that we are here to make Stateland grow bigger, better, and brighter. By letting this company grow, we will be helping more and more people — hire more employees and improve the lives of people — that is what we are looking at. We want to expand our reach — not just for influence or profit, but rather, to INSPIRE more people to ASPIRE for better homes. “