‘To give houses that Filipinos can afford’

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

JANUARIO Jesus Gregorio B. Atencio III

All the talk about a dangerous bubble emerging in the country’s robust real estate market has understandably raised the stress levels of the already wary investors, buyers, lenders and developers.

After all, grim memories of the 1997 currency crisis that led to the demise of many high flying real estate companies that rode on easy credit still haunt the corporate world, which saw a series of high profile bankruptcies, long drawn out debt restructurings and painful cleaning up of balance sheets.

The publicly listed 8990 Housing group, however, is not occupied by thoughts of an asset price bubble that is ready to burst anytime as it has purposely concentrated its resources on mass housing projects.

According to 8990 Holdings President and CEO Januario Jesus Gregorio B. Atencio III, there will always be demand for affordable housing in the Philippines, with its young and growing population that is gradually increasing its purchasing power.

Atencio tells SundayBiz in an interview that while supply is fast catching up with demand in other sectors of the real estate sector, particularly ultra high end condominiums, there remains a sizable backlog in mass housing to the tune of four million units, with demand growing at 3 to 5 percent a year.

Mass housing is defined by 8990 Holdings as units costing a maximum of P1 million and Atencio says that in this sector, the challenge is not so much to find the demand for the units, but more on improving the ability of the potential buyers to purchase them.