PROPERTY developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) announced a 41 percent growth in sales to P7.43 billion in the first half of 2020 year-on-year driven by increased demand from end-users of affordable homes seeking safer and more secure dwellings as protection from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reservation sales as of June 2020 come largely from the listed company’s residential developments in key Visayas and Mindaao (VisMin) cities impacted by the pandemic. A significant 40 percent of sales were from projects in Cebu City, where the enhanced community quarantine was recently extended. Iloilo City and Cagayan de Oro likewise accounted for 23 percent and 19 percent of sales, respectively. These are classified as low-risk areas by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases along with Bacolod that contributed 10 percent of sales and Bohol at eight percent.
CLI chairman and chief executive officer Jose Soberano III observed: “The pandemic has heightened the realization that good housing means good health. In March, we began helping our buyers afford our homes by offering stretched payment terms and other promotions. Market response has been overwhelming and we are now speeding up plans to offer our flagship Casa Mira residential brand to more VisMin cities.” Casa Mira is the listed company’s fast-selling economic housing community, which accounted for 65 percent of first half sales in 2020. Its residential units with more spaces and generous amenities in highly accessible locations are priced from P1.5 million to P3 million and require a monthly amortization of P4,000 to P5,000 a month after units are turned over. Meanwhile, CLI’s garden series appealing to mid-market buyers with higher disposable incomes garnered 26 percent of sales. (PR)