Developers urged to extend equity holiday to buyers

APPEAL. Filipino Homes founder Anthony Gerard Leuterio is appealing to real estate developers to give buyers some leeway in paying their dues as they struggle to cope with the lingering effects of the Covid-19 global outbreak (SunStar File Photo)
APPEAL. Filipino Homes founder Anthony Gerard Leuterio is appealing to real estate developers to give buyers some leeway in paying their dues as they struggle to cope with the lingering effects of the Covid-19 global outbreak (SunStar File Photo)

A REAL estate brokerage firm is calling on real estate developers to consider relaxing its collections and extending an equity holiday to buyers to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“The coronavirus outbreak has posed a serious financial threat to thousands of our buyers. It’s no longer just about the difficulty of stocking up on alcohol and hand sanitizers but about their capability to pay their bills on time,” said Filipino Homes and Leuterio Realty Brokerage founder and chief executive officer Anthony Gerard Leuterio.

“In this challenging time, we urge your office to consider relaxing on collections and extending an equity holiday to buyers who are affected in this crisis. On a case to case basis, you may make collection forbearance available to some of them. This would involve no longer pursuing late charges or no interest for a certain time frame that you may set,” said Leuterio, in a letter he sent to developers Monday, March 16, 2020.

“This critical situation provides us an opportunity to establish trust, do some social good beyond the interests of our firm, make a positive impact and showcase what our company represents for our buyers and the community,” the letter added.

Leuterio said his company has received calls from overseas Filipino worker (OFW) buyers informing them of their late equity payments due to lockdown.

“As of now, we received 22 calls from OFWs who are in countries on lockdown, especially in countries in Europe and South Korea,” he said.

Leuterio also expressed his concerns that many buyers may lose jobs due to the Covid-19 outbreak thus affecting their capability to pay or settle their bills on time.

“But we know that these OFWs will not cancel their real estate purchases because they need an investment,” he said.

2020 outlook

Early this year, Leuterio said there is an estimated P300 billion worth of real estate properties available for sale in 2020, of which 40 percent are in Cebu City.

In its Cebu Property Outlook report, Colliers International Philippines expects delivery of 5,460 condominium units from 2020 to 2021.

The bulk of these will come from Cebu City, but quite a significant number of these units will also come from Mandaue City.

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