DEVELOPERS, particularly those who have established strong international sales teams and connections abroad, are hearing “ka-ching, ka-ching!” in their minds, especially when 2010 plans involve the overseas Filipino market. Simply put, this year developers are bracing for a surge in demand from overseas.
Francis Roxas, general manager for Ayala Land International Sales, recently revealed this much to Inquirer Property.
Overseas purchases make up about a quarter of total Ayala Land sales. Alveo Land, another Ayala Land company, estimates that almost a fifth of its sales, or 19 percent, come from the overseas Filipinos market, according to Nerissa Josef, vice president for project management of Alveo Land.
“As the world economy recovers from the financial crisis, we foresee increased sales coming from overseas Filipinos both as a result of rising incomes as well as improving confidence and sentiment,” Roxas said.
Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. also believes overseas sales will continue to be strong this year, explaining that most Filipinos working abroad receive competitive salaries.
Benjamarie Therese N. Serrano, director, president and chief operating officer of Vista Land & Lifescapes, said many Filipinos working overseas are professionals with steadily increasing income levels. Seafarers, in particular, are in high demand with high salary rates.
More than 60 percent of Vista Land’s total revenues come from OFW purchases. This is consistent with Camella being a well-known and trusted brand among OFWs, according to Serrano.
Stronghold
Ayala Land has traditionally had a strong presence in North America, where the bulk of its international sales has originated in the past five years. Roxas added that this key market, though, had not been spared by the financial crisis in the past two years, and the numbers have been considerably lower than the years prior to the crisis.
“The bright side is that we purposely developed other markets that before 2007 were not priority areas for us. These were the Middle East and Europe markets where our sales base had been low and where we did not see significant declines in relative incomes of overseas Filipinos.”
Serrano said Vista Land has been “extremely familiar with the OFW market, having been the first to seriously market our products to them.”
Vista Land has a broad range of products that cater to a wide range of budgets. “Our brands and track record, especially the Camella brand, are well-known and trusted by the OFW market.”
“Over the years, we have built a strong marketing network both here and overseas. These relationships proved to be crucial in bringing in sales during difficult periods,” she said.
“ALI’s advantage over many other developers is that it has built a name that clients can trust and a reputation for delivering products of high quality that retain if not increase in value over time,” Roxas said.
According to Roxas, the biggest obstacle to the OFW market is in getting them to commit to pay a significant amount of money based on the promise to deliver made by a company halfway across the world. The client would almost always want to see the product first before paying up. Those that are able to resolve this matter of trust, he said, eventually become clients, many of whom will purchase multiple products over their overseas work assignments.
And amid tried and tested developers, there are still fly-by-night firms that prey on hapless overseas Filipinos, an obstacle that Serrano admitted is hard for the local property sector to hurdle.
Serrano said that developing properties outside of Mega Manila, and thus closer to many overseas Filipinos home provinces, could be advantageous. “Armed with the insight that many OFWs prefer to own property in their hometown provinces, the company has acquired previously identified properties outside of Mega Manila. As such, even far-flung areas where overseas Filipinos claim to have their roots have become areas of opportunity,” she said. - Tessa Salazar, Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 12, 2010
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