IN a country where a major portion of the property-buying market yearns for a well-balanced lifestyle, real-estate builders have recognized the great need to provide developments that not only offer a souped-up version of known living facilities but, more important, champion a certain way of life.
Such has always been one of the most important insights we endeavor to champion whenever we sit down to craft ideas and strategies for our real-estate clients at GeiserMaclang. An effective way to strengthen one’s positioning in a market as diverse and as competitive as real estate is to be able to promote a unique lifestyle that matches the values associated with your brand and your identity.
The continued rise of resort-themed residential developments has proven how today’s local property market has shifted its preferences. It has also drawn the interest of a large number of OFW families, who often look forward to spending their time with their loved ones. Whereas buyers in the past were only concerned about the kind of work and leisure opportunities that abound within the property’s vicinity, today’s real-estate buyers are now more drawn toward master-planned properties that offer resort-style amenities. In fact, we now see a very intense competition among local real-estate companies—developers like DMCI, Century Properties Inc. and Federal Land, for example—who devote a significant amount of their resources to developing these kinds of projects.
Taking inspiration from resort developments
A resort preserves lifestyles while allowing density to thrive at the same time. The whole idea was that, once upon a time, the whole vacation home only existed outside the city, where one had to spend a few hours’ drive away from the city and toward the neighboring areas of the metropolis. Now, we see it flipping the other way and the market continues to patronize these kinds of developments.
As population booms and cities become denser and denser, this trend will most likely continue to be the case for residential developments in the future. With traffic congestion increasingly restricting inter-city mobility, developments with integrated, resort-like facilities are becoming increasingly valued.
Branching out from the ordinary
What’s amazing about all the fascination for leisure-themed developments is that developers have grown more creative, more innovative and more daring, to say the least. Since most of the local players are patterning community facilities for their projects based on leisure destinations, today’s property market has become more open to different types of leisure-themed properties.
Right now, there seems like plenty of capacity for all. The beach, for example, never goes out of style. However, it’s just one type of such a development and we all know it is certainly not the only type. Indeed—and since it hasn’t been done yet here in the Philippines—there’s a real opportunity for, maybe, for example, an integrated residential development that offers an eco-adventure facility in the city rather than outside Metro Manila. Could you imagine how fun a residential facility could be if it has its own night market? Or its own entertainment club, for example?
At the end of the day, coming up with brilliant and savvy branding plans for all these types of developments is really about exploring the different faces of leisure. Differentiation comes with the right kind of strategies in luring the market and owning a particular category, for example. The truth is, there are as many possibilities as there are leisure destinations in the country. The only challenge is finding the right mix of elements to make your project really stand out and earn the respect of the market.