Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 1) — Prices of luxury homes within the business districts of Manila are rising at a pace faster than in any other big city in the world, according to the latest Prime Global Cities Index by property consultant Santos Knight Frank.
The survey, released on Friday, showed Manila’s prime residential prices have picked up by 21.2% year on year, evidence of strong buyer appetite for luxury homes in the Philippines, Santos Knight Frank Chairman and CEO Rick Santos told reporters in a press briefing.
At that double-digit clip, Manila has overtaken the world’s most expensive cities in terms of price growth: Dubai (15.9%), Shanghai (10.4%), Mumbai (6.5%), Madrid (5.5%), Stockholm (4.7%), Seoul (4.5%), Sydney (4.2%), Nairobi (4.1%), and Delhi (4.1%).
\”The Philippines is no. 1 globally in uplifting capital values in the luxury high-end residential sectors. That’s pretty good,\” Santos said. \”There’s been rapid growth in the past but this is the first time in recent memory that the Philippines has come up at the top of that survey.\”
\”I think the demand in high-end residential has been pretty swift over the years. It’s clearly gonna be hard for any market to sustain that no. 1 position for too many years but we see in the Philippines, there’ll be continued demand in high-end ultra-luxury residential sectors,\” he added.
Geopolitical tensions have been among the driving factors that put the Philippines at the number one spot, the property consultant said.
\”West Philippine Sea, South China Sea, that’s been geopolitical. We’ve seen developments in Ukraine. Gaza came as a surprise and obviously lots of talk about Taiwan and what’s gonna happen in the West Philippine Sea,\” Santos said
\”What it has created is an opportunity, now that there’s instability in investment markets and property markets in China and Hong Kong, we are seeing a pivot in the number of investors and occupiers coming to Southeast Asia, mainly the Philippines,\” he added.
Manila’s priciest homes are concentrated in the business districts of Bonifacio Global City, Makati City, Rockwell, and Manila Bay area. The list counts Ayala Land, Federal Land, Rockwell Land, Shang Properties and TransAsia among the prime developers.
According to Santos Knight Frank’s data, Manila’s most expensive homes are Banyan Tree Residences by TransAsia at ₱800,000 per square meter (sqm); Balmori Suites by Rockwell Land at P600,000/sqm; Aurelia Residences by Shang Properties at ₱431,000/sqm; and Haraya Residences by Shang Properties at ₱310,000/sqm.
High net-worth individuals, overseas Filipino workers, and returning OFWs are the usual buyers.
\”They’re usually 250 to 350 square meters. The 290 is usually a sweet spot, two to three bedrooms. These are on a sale basis. They got excellent security, constructed on a certain timeframe. A lot of the properties are new,\” Santos said.
