Condo units that sell for less than P1M

By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer 03/27/2009

MANILA, Philippines – A wage earner’s condominium but with qualities fit for a meticulous top executive is how Metro Manila-based developer Phinma Properties is molding all its projects.

Fresh from its condo project Fountain Breeze situated near the old NAIA airport that now fetches P877,000 for a typical 30-square meters (the lowest then was P648,000), a new seven-story condominium, Sofia Bellevue, will soon be built on Capitol Hills Drive, Old Balara, Quezon City, in front of Capitol Hills Golf and Country Club (a few meters away from the University of the Philippines Diliman, Ateneo De Manila University and Miriam College). Its first building of 168 units is set to finish within the year. The total project will finish in 2010.

Sofia Bellevue, designed to have an elevator, will charge a monthly association dues of P60 per square meter per month from future owners.

The unit cuts are 25, 36, and 40 sq m expandable up to 120 sq m.

For the project proponents, the condo price, together with the association dues, is a steal, for where else could there be a project that offers 50 percent more of the floor area for the same price as the competitor?

“On a per-sq-m basis, the Sofia Bellevue costs P41,000. Our competitors nearby peg the price of their condo units at P55,000. On a per-unit basis, Sofia Bellevue condo prices range from P861,000 to P1 million. Our competitor three minutes away offers its 20-sq-m condos for P1.2 million and their features are relatively the same,” notes Willie Uy, Phinma Properties president and CEO.

Uy reveals that for this particular project, 1.7 hectares had been earmarked for the development of 870 units in five buildings.

Sofia Bellevue targets families with combined monthly incomes of at least P30,000. The monthly amortization for a unit here, Uy estimates, could be as low as P5,915 monthly (for 25 years for a 25-sq-m studio if Pag-Ibig loan is worth P750,000; if full loan value, P9,888 per month for 25 years).

The lowest-priced unit at Sofia Bellevue is P960,000 (for a 25-sq-m unit), while a 36-sq-m unit costs P1.47 million.

Grant Orbeta, vice president for marketing and design of Phinma Properties, says: “We developed the studios because the schools –Miriam, Ateneo and UP – are there plus the UP Technopark employees. There’s a growing market of individuals who want to live separately from their families. Even if some of them are not qualified with their salaries, Pag-Ibig allows them to combine their salary with their immediate kin.”

Uy stresses that Phinma projects have a strict “slab” test. “If foundation doesn’t pass the standard, this means it could affect the structural integrity of the whole building. We destroy the whole thing and rebuild again.”