Cha-cha won’t crowd out small developers, says property player

MANILA – Small housing developers can benefit from the proposed easing of foreign ownership restrictions in some businesses through Charter change, a property player and asset management firm said Tuesday.

Januarius Holdings chairman and CEO JJ Atencio told the ANC’s Market Edge that economic provisions of “Cha-cha” will bring in more foreign direct investments, more opportunities, and jobs.

One of the measures of the proposed charter change by the House of Representatives includes the easing of foreign ownership of land and businesses in the country.

Amid concerns that foreign investors will take the market from local players, Atencio said foreign locators will still need to partner with local developers to successfully enter the Philippine market.

This is because local players have the advantage of knowing the permitting process and knowledge of local areas, aside from high levels of barriers to entry, he added.

“If at all these foreign investors decide to come in the first place… they’ll probably need a Filipino JV (joint venture) partner to execute anyway, and that creates a lot of opportunities with local developers to partner with these big companies,” said Atencio.

Atencio said he welcomes foreign investors, as the industry still needs to meet 6 million unserved demand for affordable housing in the Philippines.

“The demand for housing in the Philippines is very huge. Based on our estimate, there is 6 million in unserved demand for affordable housing, and a growth rate of 5 percent a year. Housing supply is only 250,000 per year, which is not enough,” Atencio said.

“There is a lot of opportunities and a lot of markets to absorb possible entrants — whether foreign or local,” he added.

Article and Photo originally posted by ABS-CBN News last January 12, 2021 5:54pm. Minor edits have been made by REBPH to cater to its own readers.