A TOTAL of 5,121 establishments were engaged in real estate activities in 2020.
This number represents a two percent decrease from the 5,225 establishments reported in 2019, according to the the Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Real estate activities with own or leased property posted a higher number of establishments of 4,519 or 88.2 percent of the total.
Real estate activities on a fee or contract basis, on the other hand, recorded 602 establishments.
It was in March 2020 when the Philippine government under the Duterte administration declared a lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then the cities and municipalities across the country were under varying levels of lockdown until the early part of 2022.
The National Capital Region (NCR) had the most number of establishments of 3,040 or 59.4 percent of the total followed by Central Visayas with 497 establishments and Calabarzon with 326 establishments.
Employment
Real estate activities with own or leased property industry employed majority of the workers.
In 2020, the total employment for the sector was recorded at 97,237 workers, a drop of 8.2 percent from the 105,973 workers reported in 2019.
By industry group, real estate activities with own or leased property employed 88,184 workers. The remaining 9,053 workers were engaged in real estate activities on a fee or contract basis.
By region, NCR hired the highest number of workers of 68,742 followed by Central Visayas with 7,053 and Calabarzon with 6,435 workers.
Revenue generation
Moreover, the total revenue generated by the sector reached P646.84 billion in 2020, down 41.3 percent from the P1.10 trillion in 2019.
Real estate activities with own or leased property contributed the major share to the total revenue of the sector, amounting to P632.91 billion. On the other hand, real estate activities on a fee or contract basis generated a revenue of P13.93 billion.
Meanwhile, the total expense incurred by the sector amounted to P472.9 billion in 2020, down by 34 percent from the P716.23 billion in 2019.
Real estate activities with own or leased property spent P460.51 billion while real estate activities on a fee or contract basis spent P12.39 billion or 2.6 percent.
Of the total revenue generated by the real estate activities industry, NCR earned P568.64 billion, the highest among other regions. Similarly, the NCR incurred the highest expense of P406.45 billion or 85.9 percent of the total.
In terms of subsidies, the sector received P3.12 billion total subsidies in 2020, down 79 percent from the P14.85 billion recorded in 2019. Subsidies are grants received from the government in the form of financial assistance or tax exemption to aid and develop an industry.
The real estate sector has been a strong economic pillar of the country amid the pandemic although residential sales and leasing were adversely affected by a lackluster office market in 2020, according to Colliers International Philippines.
The condominium segment also experienced subdued business and consumer confidence.
But economic indicators during that year point to a recovery in 2021. Cities with less quarantine restrictions continued with their building activities.
Sellers or real estate marketing professionals shifted to selling properties online while developers fast tracked their digital infrastructure journey to cope with the new normal environment and offered flexible payment terms.