By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE CONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. and its real estate arm said they hade entered into a joint venture with India’s Mahindra Group to develop an exclusive residential community in one of the subcontinent’s major cities.

In a statement to the stock exchange, Ayala Corp. and Ayala Land Inc. said the deal involved development of a high-end housing enclave in the 1,500-acre Mahindra World City (MWC) in Chennai, India.

The joint venture, Mahindra Residential Developers Ltd., will be 51-percent owned by the Mahindra Group and 49 percent by ARCH Capital Asian Partners L.P., a private real estate fund managed by Ayala affiliate ARCH Capital Management Co. Ltd.

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By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer

FINANCIAL losses of the tobacco tycoon Lucio Tan’s Eton Properties Philippines Inc. widened significantly at the end of last year as the company embarked on an aggressive spending program to get its first projects off the ground.

But its total assets were close to hitting the P1-billion mark a year after it was founded, Eton said.

In a statement, Eton said its net loss at the end of 2007 reached P146.7 million, 664-percent bigger than the P19.1-million loss it reported in April last year.

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By Rosemarie Francisco
Reuters

MERLY PAZ, a Filipina domestic worker in Hong Kong, has stopped sending money for the construction of her home in southern Iriga City because the peso value of her US dollar-pegged salary has fallen sharply.

“My salary is limited so I placed the house on hold,” said 31-year-old Paz who has been working in Hong Kong for nearly eight years. “But the longer I’m putting it on hold, the more that prices of construction materials are rising.”

A real estate boom in the Philippines has been powered by demand from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) such as Paz who send home salaries to fund purchases and construction of family homes.

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By Philippine Daily Inquirer

ROBINSONS Land Corp. said it would merge the operations of its three wholly owned real estate units — Robinsons Homes Inc., Trion Homes Development Corp., and Manila Midtown Hotels and Land Corp. — and fold them into the parent company.

It said the merger would “integrate administrative processes and eliminate the duplication of functions” among the three units and increase overall financial strength and credit standing.

The merger will be presented for approval at the annual meeting of stockholders in April, it said.

Robinsons Land operates shopping centers, high-rise residential condominiums and townhouses, mid- to low-cost housing and subdivisions, office buildings and hotels. It has 20 malls, 22 residential condominium buildings, five office buildings, 26 housing and land development projects and three hotels. Edited by INQUIRER.net

By Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE PHILIPPINE property sector may be close to hitting the peak of a post-Asian-crisis cycle, as analysts expect robust demand to extend for about two to three more years.

Analysts and bankers said low interest rates and big demand from end-users were supporting appetite for real estate — the exact opposite of the situation 10 years ago when people were buying real estate on speculation that prices would rise further.

“I think we’re closer to the top” of the cycle, said Michael Manuel, chief investment officer of Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. “A lot of things are going on in the property market, but if you look at the supply that’s being built now, I think come 2009 and 2010, we’ll probably see some kind of peaking.”

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