After his successful State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo Duterte is now officially ready to take on the responsibilities of being the leader of the Philippines. With so many promises to deliver, the president and his team are already gearing up in making the most out of the six years given to them by the nation.
As the transition towards the Duterte administration continues to progress, the real estate industry is also preparing to the changes that the new president might bring. Here’s what we think will happen in the industry as the Duterte administration rules.
Decentralized system equals more opportunities
With talks of changing the constitution to federalism, the Duterte administration aims to decentralize the business power from Manila and give equal opportunities to other provinces. This gives a chance to real estate investors to rise developments, both residential and businesses, on other parts of the country. More jobs and opportunities are going to spring up in the nearby locations.
Socialized housing
Homeownership is still one of the many problems of hard working Filipinos. It’s the right of every Filipino to own a house, whatever their economic status is. The first step that President Duterte did for this issue is to hail Vice President Leni Robredo as the chairman of the Housing and Urban Developing Coordinating Council (HUDCC). Robredo, during her proclamation for the said position, said that she is seeking for the help of private sectors to address the issue of 1.4 million housing backlog.
Better transportation
2015 is the year when traffic in the Philippines has hit an all time low. In his SONA, Duterte promised that more infrastructures and better MRT ticketing system can help solve the wearies of the traffic issue in the country. Better traffic means that developers can now pursue on building more developments on locations outside Manila.
Philippines: The Next Singapore or Hong Kong
In an interview with dzRJ last January 13, the then presidential aspirant says that he’s willing to lease some of the islands in the Philippines to other countries:
“If we can lease our land for military bases, why not lease an island… to create our own version of Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore? The jobs will come here. Going abroad must be a choice, not a necessity.”
This is an opportunity for more businesses and residential units to rise if this plan may ever be implemented. More investors will be also engaged in creating more developments here if this pushes through.
War against crime and drugs will elevate transparency
Duterte also promised that he will be rigorous in fighting crime during his six years of administration. His call to eradicate crime can help in boosting up the nation’s real estate transparency. Transparency means easy access to important information that investors will need from local sectors. The corruption in the country has deeply hurt the nation’s transparency rating, and with Duterte’s crime fighting agenda, it’s expected for the transparency rate for almost every sector to rise up soon.
Environmental efforts on real estate
In his SONA, the new president made a heavy emphasis on the importance of environment awareness and vows to make efforts in implementing new ordinance for it. Back when he’s still the mayor of Davao, Duterte created an ordinance to property developers to create a 10% green space in their development projects. Expect the same efforts to push through nationwide. This can lead to a more conscious effort to go green and create sustainable properties in the future.
Davao to be at the spotlight
Because this is the new President’s hometown, Davao has been enjoying the spotlight in the news these days. The President wants to go home to his province every weekend which is a nightmare to his security but a dream becoming a reality to the people of Davao. If the President insists on spending more time in the South, the said province may enjoy exposure from future investors.
Everyone is hopeful that the new administration will further improve the continuous growth of the current local real estate. Fingers crossed that the new president will uphold his promises and bring the economy to its very best.
