Ayala ventures into ‘economic’ housing projects (Doris Dumlao, PDI)

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. has ventured into the "economic" housing business by building a new brand that offers homes worth P1.25 million and below.

This is seen as a low-margin but high-volume segment that is envisioned to become the "biggest brand" in ALI's residential portfolio and a major revenue contributor to the company in five years.

The new unit, Amaia Land Corp., targets households from the so-called class "C" income segment which can afford a monthly amortization of P4,000.

Its inaugural project is the P1.08-billion Amaia Scapes Laguna in Calamba, near Laguna's major industrial parks. Amaia Scapes offers 1,828 housing units with living areas ranging from 25 to 56 square meters on lots ranging from 40-75 sq.m.

In a briefing Thursday, ALI head for residential business group Bobby Dy said the group was grooming Amaia to be the "biggest" brand in ALI's residential portfolio in five years in terms of unit sales, revenues and profitability.

"This is where we feel we'll make a significant impact," Dy said, noting that the Ayala group would like to break the notion that only the well-off could own an Ayala Land product.

While ALI's three existing brands-Ayala Premier, Alveo and Avida which focus on the upscale and middle-income segments-were now catering to only 7 percent of the Philippine population, ALI believes Amaia can post exponential growth in market reach given the huge backlog in this segment.

Amaia, designed for households with combined monthly earnings of P20,000 to P50,000, is seen catering to 34 percent of the population. While the Ayala group is not yet ready to penetrate the "socialized" segment-or households seeking housing units worth P400,000 and below, officials said this could be the company's next step in the future. The "D" and "E" segments combined are estimated to account for about 60 percent of the local housing market.

Based on ALI's estimates, there is currently a shortfall of about 4.2 million housing units for the combined C, D and E segments.

Amaia Land was established as a subsidiary of ALI but brand-wise, it will be under the auspices of Avida Land.

Avida president Leo Montenegro, who is also president of Amaia, said there were six more projects in the pipeline for Amaia for the next two years. However, he said the initial geographical thrust would be the Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Quezon) area, considered as a tried-and-tested market given the industrial activities in the area and its proximity to Metro Manila.

For the Amaia Scapes Laguna project, ALI expects to generate P4.6 billion in sales in four-and-a-half years. The first sector in the 20-hectare project is scheduled to be turned over to the buyers before Christmas this year. ALI is targeting to sell at least 400 units this year.

Avida vice president Ricky Celis said Amaia's brand proposition was "empowerment" by proving good quality yet affordable homes.

It also targets newlyweds and young families including salaried employees and small entrepreneurs. Amaia, Celis said, would offer low-cost housing units in a good location, with unique master planned community concepts, sense of spaciousness, consistent quality and workmanship and materials, structural warranties and provisions for growth.