How Vista Land edges out competition - Villar

RAPPLER - Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc., the property developer of the family of Senator Manuel Villar, is focusing on launching projects in “second-tier” cities.

“We’re opening more developments this year in second-tier cities such as Zambales, Kalibo and Roxas. In these cities, I don’t see any presence of listed real estate companies. I only see low-cost housing developers. I don’t see them as competition,” said Villar at Vista Land’s 2012 financial briefing on Thursday, March 21.
“Right now it’s very difficult to enter in these areas. It’s difficult to buy property. You need a lot of approvals and you have to make sure you have the logistics ability. This is the kind of thing we built over 30 years. An advantage that very few in the industry realize we have. This practically gives us a monopoly,” he added.

Vista Land, which has made a name for offering affordable houses, has a land bank of 1,962 hectares nationwide. The company has presence in 31 provinces, 63 cities and municipalities. It has 5 business units namely, Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella Homes, Communities Philippines and Vista Residences.

The company launched 28 projects with an estimated total value of P25.5 billion in 2012. Of these, 22 are in the low and affordable sector and 18 of those projects were launched outside Metro Manila.
The senator said they would enter a minimum of 10 new cities this 2013.

The landscape
However, as more big-ticket developers start launching projects nationwide, competition will start increasing.
Manuel Paolo Villar, the senator’s son who is chairman and CEO of Vista Land, said “competition is there right now. It’s not a monopoly. When we go to a new area there is generally a local real estate agent there and we compete with them. We do well because we have a brand and strong marketing.”

“We’re very confident in our building strategy mainly because we have been competing for 5 years. We accept it and look forward to the competition,” he added.
The younger Villar said most of their sales come from the Mega Manila area, the provinces surrounding Metro Manila.

“The cities that are doing quite well are not secrets; Cebu and Davao. Smaller cities have been growing quite well. We’re seeing demand in the provinces,” he said.

OFWs, retirees
Purchases made by OFWs make up 60% of their sales. According to Senator Villar, most of their OFW buyers come from the Middle East and from places in Asia such as Singapore and Malaysia.
The younger Villar said the strengthening peso has not affected sales.

Foreign nationals make up less than 5% of sales. These exclude Filipino-Americans with dual citizenship.
In 2012, its affordable housing brand, Camella made up 34% of total revenue while Communities Philippines made up 36%. The developer’s other brands – Crown Asia, Brittany and Vista Residences –made up 12%, 13% and 5%, respectively.

Villar said their mid-range brands Camella and Communities Philippines would take a bigger part of their revenue share in the future.

“They will be more than 70% in the next few years,” he said.
Villar said they would also look into retirement villages. “It’s an interesting area that we’re looking into,”

Vista Land reported a net income of P4.4 billion in 2012, exceeding its P4.2 billion goal for 2012, citing record sales.

"The market demand for housing, particularly for Camella in the provinces, continues to be robust and we don’t see any risk of a slowdown in that segment," Ricardo Tan Jr, Vista Land’s CFO, said.

Vista Land is mulling a capital restructuring plan, which is part of moves to raise funds in the future without breaking foreign ownership rules.

For more details on Vista Land residential projects, you may contact Reby Ramirez: 0922.883.9308 / 0916.4044.555 / 0919699.3572 or reby_ramirez@yahoo.com.

For latest information on the Philippine Real Estate Industry and the Real Estate Service Act (RA9646), please visit www.ra9646.com.ph.   

Property market good for next 3 years: Villar

Malaya - Vista Land and Lifescapes, Inc. is confident this year’s activity will continue to be favorable for the company, seeing overall performance indicators as going up by double digits.

Richard Tan, Vista Land chief finance officer, said they expect profit and revenues to improve between 15 and 20 percent for the year from last year’s P4.38 billion and P16.34 billion respectively as the company continue to build more residential units all over the country.

The more indicative predictor of growth of reservation sales meanwhile is seen to improve by 15 percent this year from last year’s P40.09 billion.

“Our strategy is paying off handsomely and given the strength of the property market, particularly housing, we will continue to focus on bringing the Camella brand to families around the country,” said Manuel Paolo Villar, Vista Land’s chief executive officer.

Villar expressed confidence that the property market is assured of a good run for the next three years in which Vista Land is expected to benefit.

Vista Land said last year’s P4.38-billion profit was a 24 percent improvement over the previous year’s P3.53 billion, while the P16.34-billion revenue was a 21 percent uptick from the previous year’s P13.51 billion.

“We have exceeded our target for last year when we targeted a 21 percent profit growth and a 20 percent revenue growth. 2012 is the best year for Vista Land since 2007,” said Tan.

Vista Land was the former C&P Homes, Inc., which was restructured by the Villar family in 2007 after several years in the doldrums as a result of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

“This year will be another record year for us,” said Tan, noting that the company’s tack will remain in developing affordable housing units under the brand Camella.

At 34 percent of total revenues, Camella’s contribution in Vista Land is the biggest among the four brands of the company. Units Crown Asia contributed 12 percent; Brittany 13 percent; Vista Residences 5 percent; and Communities Philippines 36 percent.

Communities Philippines is not a particular brand within the Vista Land group but a marketing arm of the company that sells the other four brands outside greater Manila area.

“We will continue to take advantage of the demand in the province and greater Manila for Camella,” said Tan who noted that “market demand for housing, particularly for Camella in the provinces, continues to be robust” without a hint of any slowdown.

For latest information on the Philippine Real Estate Industry and the Real Estate Service Act (RA9646), please visit www.ra9646.com.ph.