OVERSEAS Filipino workers (OFW) in the United States are the main buyers of AppleOne’s condominium units in Banawa, Cebu City.
Barbara Cabo, senior vice president of AppleOne Properties Inc., said their roadshows in the US contributed to the selling of 85 percent of their available units.
“We’re about 85 percent sold, so 15 percent remain in the inventory. We’re hoping to complete the project by 2021 to turn over everything,” Cabo said.
AppleOne Banawa Heights consists of three 12-storey towers, six three-storey mansionettes and 10 four-storey villas.
Cabo said their buyer profiles includes young professionals who are US-based and other OFWs who want to secure a home for their families.
“It depends on the product type. For the mansionettes, it’s more of the professionals like doctors and lawyers. On the tower side, it’s more of (people from the) same profession but US-based,” Cabo said.
The three towers have been sold out while developments for villas and mansionettes are ongoing.
Lilian Fauskanger, sales director, said they do roadshows abroad to target OFWs.
“We reach out to them to give justice to their hard work overseas so they will have a home ready for them by the time they return here. Most of our buyers are from abroad,” she said.
Those who bought mansionettes are mostly OFWs who are looking into retiring in Cebu, Fauskanger said.
More than 50 percent of their buyer profile is composed of OFWs in the US, a product of their roadshows in California, Florida and New York, she said.
“We check what state has a huge concentration of OFWs for our roadshows. Most of the Filipinos we meet there would refer us through word of mouth to their friends and relatives, and that expands our market,” she said.
Most of their buyers are from the Visayas and Mindanao.
Cabo said the prospects of middle-end housing is still promising.
AppleOne Banawa Heights, which was launched in 2013, is a P4-billion investment and is expected to contribute $89.5 million in sales when fully sold. (JOB)