What is the Housing Market like in the Philippines?

[Old55]

33 minutes ago, Ram1957 said:

One of the problems here is that there is no market analysis on houses and land here. People just pull a number out of the sky and they stick to it. Sad thing about it most realtors have no idea on how to sell homes in the first place. Then we have foreigners coming here thinking they are getting a good deal without looking into it deeper.

Exactly! 

[Rooster]

10 hours ago, "P2" said:

I'm thinking of retiring with my filipina wife in the Philippines. We haven't decided where yet. We are also undecided on if we should build/buy or rent. I'm a little concerned that if I invest money into buying and existing house or building one and then somewhere down the road we change our minds, that I will have a difficult time selling it and recouping my money. What's the average sale time for a house there that averages around $300K (US). How the resale market? Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

How old will you be when you retire here? I retired here when i was young, we knew where we wanted to live which is a tourist area. It would have been foolish for us to rent because I expected to live for another 40 or 45 years. We bought "Titled" land, built a house and we owe nothing.  

If you buy, purchase "Titled Only".  Titled land where I reside is skyrocketing and has been for years. Research and you will discover that It's extremely foolish to buy Tax Declaration, Rights or Salvage Zone Land.

Some Expats retire here in their 60's 70's 80's. The older one is and the less their life expectancy, it may be wise to rent unless you want someplace for your spouse, children, etc. to inherit.

There is no one plan fits all when it comes to renting or buying. Read Republic Act No. 9653   "Rent Control Act of 2009". and know your rental rights including a landlords right to increase rent each year. 

https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2009/ra_9653_2009.html

 

 

 

[Snowy79]

From my observations many foreigners enter the property market with a fixed mindset. They know what they like and if it isn't on the market they will build it. 

This leads to a huge Western style house build by Filipinos at attempted Western standards which throws up the following issues. The first one being the cost will put many Filipinos out of the market if you want to sell, then there's difference in say what a German thinks is a nice design compared to an American. Thirdly most Westerners use their brains and think if they buy land they can built their own home to their liking a lot cheaper. The end result is lots of huge houses that stick out of the norm and only about 10% of buyers would even look at. 

Once built they then realise they don't actually like the area and at their age only have ten to 15yrs to live so are stuck with a noose around their necks. 

[hk blues]

We bought and came here with the intention of doing so.  We had a 3 year-old when we moved so this ideal world scenario of moving around looking for the perfect spot wasn't really practical for our situation - schooling alone put an end to that.  I was naive about the property market here and knew it so went for the 'safe' option of buying a mid-range property on a mid-range development with an established developer.  The community was well-established already so we more or less knew what we were getting into.

Unlike many of my neighbours I have no illusion about what my property is worth and what I would get If I sold it - less than the cost of the identical unit which is new! My home is not an investment and was never intended to be - it is where we live and I'll likely die.  Everything we spend on it is solely to improve our comfort.  None of that would be possible (or should I say sensible) if we had chosen to rent.  

For some renting makes perfect sense and for others buying is the best option.  

[manofthecoldland]

I think the first thing I would be concerned with, after building even a small house (ours is on a privately titled 200 sq. m. lot, that we built, improved and expanded on since 2012), would be.... if and how your Pinay could maintain and meet household expenses if you were no longer around to fund  it. If her operational and livelihood income source for this disappears when you do, I hope she has a plan B ,C  and D to revert to.  Its never easy to find a buyer, even when priced low and below your initial building costs.

You build to suit your desires and standards, and houses, like other consumer items, can depreciate with usage and age here over time, if not properly maintained and kept up due to low quality materials and tropical climate subjection. I had one light switch fail in my sub-arctic cabin over its 30 year life span, but I am constantly replacing circuit breakers, switches and  wiring here. Natural wood and even concrete walls, etc. often require frequent  repairs or replacement. 

This is not a developed world real estate market by any stretch of the imagination. Don't count on any mythical appreciation in value over time and usage, unless you live in high demand areas of large population and income levels. 

Not only that..... people here will often make insultingly low offers when attempting to buy it.... so I am told. You might be one of the lucky few exceptions that recoups fair value in a timely manner, but don't expect it. Its difficult for fellows from the US, Canada, GB or Aus to get their heads around this often times, when considering how the real estate markets work in our home countries. Certain aspects of it seem straight out of 'Bizarro World' (Superman comics) at times, where things are the reverse of what you have in the world you came from.

 Just my present opinion. I would love to be in error. 

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, Ram1957 said:

One of the problems here is that there is no market analysis on houses and land here.

This is the biggest problem in my eyes.  It is impossible to correctly value a house.  There is no visibility to actual selling prices and you would have to speculate on building costs.  In Angeles City builders and speculators are building nice looking spec houses in the 300k price range and higher.  I nave seen a few that are still sitting there for a year or more with no change in price.  Sometimes you see the price go up because some stupid agent thinks they can mark it up.  And you have several agents doing this and several listings.

Even if the new house here appears nice, most likely the quality is terrible.  With modern building materials, the new place can look very sharp but the bones are probably terrible.  I follow a U.S. home inspector on You Tube, and you should see all the things he finds on brand new U.S. houses.  I can imagine what he would find on a brand new house here.

Would I buy one?  You never know, but prices of these spec houses need to drop a lot.  They should be half of 300k.  Also, the lots are very small and very close to each other.  Anyone who wants more space between houses has to buy 2 lots.

[hk blues]

31 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

This is the biggest problem in my eyes.  It is impossible to correctly value a house.  There is no visibility to actual selling prices and you would have to speculate on building costs.  In Angeles City builders and speculators are building nice looking spec houses in the 300k price range and higher.  I nave seen a few that are still sitting there for a year or more with no change in price.  Sometimes you see the price go up because some stupid agent thinks they can mark it up.  And you have several agents doing this and several listings.

Even if the new house here appears nice, most likely the quality is terrible.  With modern building materials, the new place can look very sharp but the bones are probably terrible.  I follow a U.S. home inspector on You Tube, and you should see all the things he finds on brand new U.S. houses.  I can imagine what he would find on a brand new house here.

Would I buy one?  You never know, but prices of these spec houses need to drop a lot.  They should be half of 300k.  Also, the lots are very small and very close to each other.  Anyone who wants more space between houses has to buy 2 lots.

Personally, I would never pay 1st world prices for a property here in the Philippines.  Without getting into specifics, we paid the same for our house here 8 years ago as we paid for a kinda similar house in a kinda similar city in the UK 20 years ago. 

[Lee]

2 hours ago, manofthecoldland said:

This is not a developed world real estate market by any stretch of the imagination.

Quite correct.

Since there isn't a MLS system here, there is no way to make accurate comparisons. Houses that I have seen sell do so by word of mouth or FB. Locally, it seems that if a house was built by or owned by a foreigner they often sell quicker as the locals are notorious for not taking care of houses, cars, etc. 

Agents probably screw up more real estate deals than ever get through to completion. They never seem to be able to take their commission and move on. When we went through our house deal the agents said the owner (an American) wanted to take all the air con units with him (there are 6). I said sure ---no problem--lets see---100K multiplied by 6---then we are dropping our offer by 600K. When I finally got a hold of the buyer on the phone, he said that he never said anything about the air cons and would have no use for them in Mindoro where he was moving.

The agents were simply trying to scam the air cons so they might sell them for whatever they could get. 

[Kingpin]

16 hours ago, usa32 said:

Rule number 1. Don't buy in the Philippines 

That's rule #2,  1 is don't marry into a (large) family

[Kingpin]

9 hours ago, Rooster said:

It would have been foolish for us to rent because I expected to live for another 40 or 45 years.

That's mostly a Filipino mindset, because they lack experience with financial investments. Over 40 years your invested money will likely grow as much as your land value, with the additional freedom of not being locked into a single location.

Same applies with inheritance, instead of giving your people a house, you can leave them the investments with an income for life.