Ayala Land Inc. on Wednesday has taken a sanguine economic outlook and bared launching four new estates this year that will raise its portfolio to 54.
Bernard Vincent O. Dy, Ayala Land president, said the economic prospects will support growth not only this year but also for the foreseeable future.
“There are several positive factors, I think, that bodes well for the expansion of our business line. This year, (the country’s) gross domestic product is expected to grow between 5 percent to 6 percent. Consumption continues to be strong, overseas Filipino worker remittances continue to increase year on year and business process outsourcing and office space take ups continue to improve,” Dy said said at the company’s stockholders meeting on Wednesday.
According to him, the enterprise is convinced that interest rates, which are key business variables, have peaked and that inflation is starting to decline from high levels reported last year.
“Given these favorable conditions, we anticipate renewed growth across all our business lines this year,” he said.
Last year, Ayala Land launched two new estates: the Areza in Lipa, Batangas, and Crossroads in Plaridel Bulacan.
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Land chairman, said the company looks to spend P15.2 billion for the initial development of two of the estates over the next few years.
“We believe that will spur economic activity in these emerging localities, maximize synergies among our product lines, and enable us to deliver value to these local economies and their stakeholders,” he said.
“As the country’s growth continues to gain momentum, we will accelerate the rollout of our large scale mixed use and sustainable estates will force united states across the country,” Zobel said.
The 92-hectare Areza estate is Ayala Land’s first state in Batangas and eyed as Lipa City’s new downtown. Its commercial retail and institutional establishments are designed to harness the province’s strength in agriculture, manufacturing and tourism.
The 83-hectare Crossroads, meanwhile, will be an master planned mixed-use estate featuring residential and commercial components in the emerging enterprise zone on the eastern corridor of Manila.
At its quarterly briefing in February, company officials bared launchin an industrial estate in Padre Burgos, Batangas.
Augusto Cesar D. Bengzon, company chief financial officer, also said the company will likely launch P110 billion worth of inventory this year from only P90 billion last year as economic conditions turn around.
“Inflation and interest rate increases over the past few years have impacted demand, particularly in property development in our residential business. We believe that interest rates have peaked and inflation is starting to decline from the high levels that we saw last year,” Bengzon said.
“Given these favorable conditions, we anticipate renewed growth across all our business lines this year (mostly) in the residential sector,” he said.
