Licensed real estate consultant and Pinnacle’s former director for research and consulting Jose Romarx Salas was one of the resource speakers during the Manila Board of Realtors’ (MBR) Manila Real Estate Forum 2019. The forum, which was held at the MAXX Auditorium in MOA Complex, Pasay, tackled timely issues and subjects on Philippine real estate.

Salas, a 20-year veteran of the real estate sector, discussed the infrastructure and residential development of the Greater Capital Region, a geographical area defined by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as comprising the National Capital Region, Central Luzon, and CALABARZON.

According to Salas, although the GCR only comprises 11.5 percent of the Philippines’ total area, the region accounts for 38.13 percent and 62.25 percent of the country’s population and GDP, respectively. He enumerated the infrastructure projects currently in the pipeline that will further the region’s economic growth. Some of these projects include the BGC–Ortigas Center Link Road Project, the LRT-1 and LRT-2 Extension projects, Skyway North-South connection, and the Metro Manila Subway, among others.



Condo take-up in the NCR, according to Salas, has reached 90 percent in 2018, which will reach 94 percent in 2020. The region’s average condo price stood at Php190,000 per square meter, breaching the Php400,000-per-square-meter mark in Makati’s most prime addresses.



“Continued growth of the residential market [in the GCR] shall be positively affected by infrastructure developments,” said Salas. “Future residential growth is projected to be wider in geographical scope, and with relatively even density, and there will be an increasing demand from local buyers, overseas Filipinos, and foreigners.”