Online house hunters still favor Metro Manila’s neighborhoods

ONLINE FILIPINO property hunters still want to purchase houses in Metro Manila, with Quezon City the preferred area for buyers, according to a report by online property portal Lamudi Philippines.

A 2015 survey by Lamudi Philippines showed an overwhelming number of respondents — 79.6% — looking to move house in the future, with 94.86% of that group searching for houses, 2.42% looking for a condominium, and 1.21% seeking a townhouse.

“It’s Filipino culture. Majority sees condo as an investment for rental income whereas a home is more for end- users,” Rodel D. Ambas, Jr., head of content and public relations at Lamudi Philippines, said in a briefing on Wednesday.

More than half or 55.05% of the respondents cited Metro Manila as their area of choice for property purchase, with Quezon City the most preferred city (19.47%). It was followed by Makati (8.65%) and Manila (8.41%).

“There is a huge amount of inventory in the city. The city is so huge that you can buy affordable homes in Fairview and Novaliches, but there are equally expensive properties in the New Manila and Loyola Heights area,” Mr. Ambas said.

Likewise, Quezon City was the most searched city on the Lamudi Philippines platform, generating 244,456 searches in the first quarter of 2015, 37% of which were searches for for-sale properties and 15.6% for rental properties.

Makati is the second most searched city, but searches were more skewed toward for- rent properties (51%), compared with for-sale properties (33.9%).

As for the reason for moving to a new home, Lamudi Philippines said the respondents were planning to purchase their own property ( 79.57%), looking for a better area, planning to move to a new city, or live closer to relatives ( 14.66%), considering proximity to schools ( 1.44%), and relocating to near their place of work ( 2.4%).

While Metro Manila is the most searched region in the Philippines for online house hunters, its share of search volume among all regions has been steadily declining, from 78.55% in the second quarter of 2014 to 55.1% in the first quarter of 2015.

In contrast, other regions like Calabarzon and Central Visayas are experiencing an uptick in search volume, the report noted.

Lamudi Philippines used data from its second quarter 2014 to first quarter 2015 onsite searches, the results of last year’s survey involving real estate professionals and websites users, and its listing data.