The Philippines Inquirer "Property sales to OFWs are rising" (7th Mar 2010) seems to suggest inconclusively that Overseas Foreign Workers (OFWs) are buying more property in the Philippines. This strikes me more of biased reporting by interests aligned to the property developers. Certainly remittances are rising - up some 16% if I remember correctly. Though I would suggest increases in interest rates, new property sales, non-property-related remittances and long 20-year loan commitments could readily account for those increases, not to mention uncertainty about the US market, the talk of weakness in the USD, concerns for family during recession, volatility or uncertainty in investment markets.
I suggest instead that the ratio of OFW buying has increased as a proportion of total sales because local property buying has declined significantly. The increase in domestic tourism might suggest that Filipinos are spending more on recreation rather than capital investments. I think if there was more to this story, they would have provided more detail on absolute sales numbers. This is not an easy number to determine because some OFWs are inclined to buy in the names of local family. My experience tells me to be suspicious of this argument. Property developers will benefit from prior commitments to incomplete properties. They should thus record reasonable sales for this year, though I suggest it probably does not look so good for 2011.
You can read the article on the Philippines Inquirer website.
NZ Property Guide
Philippine Real Estate Guide
Foreclosed Japan Guide
Author
Andrew Sheldon
Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com
I suggest instead that the ratio of OFW buying has increased as a proportion of total sales because local property buying has declined significantly. The increase in domestic tourism might suggest that Filipinos are spending more on recreation rather than capital investments. I think if there was more to this story, they would have provided more detail on absolute sales numbers. This is not an easy number to determine because some OFWs are inclined to buy in the names of local family. My experience tells me to be suspicious of this argument. Property developers will benefit from prior commitments to incomplete properties. They should thus record reasonable sales for this year, though I suggest it probably does not look so good for 2011.
You can read the article on the Philippines Inquirer website.
NZ Property Guide
Philippine Real Estate Guide
Foreclosed Japan Guide
Author
Andrew Sheldon
Applied Critical Thinking | www.SheldonThinks.com
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