REAL-estate company Sta. Lucia Land Inc. (SLI) is beefing up its presence outside of the metropolis, as the country’s economic growth continues.
With multiple projects across 10 regions, it is poised to benefit from the increased buying power of local consumers and the renewed influx of commerce as businesses begins to prosper in emerging cities and provinces.
SLI EVP and CFO David de la Cruz said real-estate values in these developing sites have remained stable over the years.
“Even during the property crisis that happened in the past decades, property prices in these areas did not have violent swings, but, instead have had a steady, trajectory of increases in values over the past years,” he said.
He cited Iloilo, where the company started selling at P5,600 per square meter (sq m) on the average in the latter part of 2012.
The market value at present, he noted, has reached P8,800 per sq m and is seen to continue to appreciate.
“We have similar experiences in Cebu, Davao, Pampanga and Bulacan,” de la Cruz said.
Over the last three years, SLI has launched a total of 38 projects, including those in Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and Rizal.
Commercial areas of the property developer have reached more than 33.93 hectares in over 20 cities and provinces.
The listed firm plans to replicate its success and bring expertise in its current 120,000-sq-m-mall in Rizal by building new malls in commercial sites it already owns.
SLI reported growth earnings for the third quarter of 2014 on the back of robust sales from its provincial projects.
Its net income had more than doubled to P426 million from July to September 2014, or 112 percent higher than the P201 million during the same period two years ago.
Gross revenues from real-estate sales grew by 94 percent, while accompanying cost and expenses rose by only 35 percent.
Net-income margin increased from 22 percent to just below 30 percent.