PH Government to relax the foreign ownership rules
Three (3) years ago an official of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) urged the previous administration to relax the foreign ownership rules in the Philippines since it will help the country to attract bigger foreign direct investments (FDIs). (See report here).
Now, the Duterte administration considers relaxing the foreign ownership restrictions on property and company ownership in the Philippines. The government is planning to lift foreign ownership rules from 40% to 70% and raise land lease limits from 25 years to 40 years.
KMC Savills Head of Research Antonn Nordberg said in a press conference that this will attract investors in key industries. The present administration also announced that they are boosting infrastructure spending and development for the countryside. This infrastructure will ease the cost of logistics thus it will open more opportunities for the real estate industry.
In relation to that, the government will pursue the construction of a 374 Billion subway to connect business districts in the Philippines and decongest Metro Manila traffic. The first subway system will connect BGC, Makati, and SM MOA.
The government also plans to build more economic zones outside of Metro Manila. They intend to incentivize income-generating properties such as offices, hotel, retail and even residential and hospital developments. Both the high-end and affordable housing markets are underserved. Because of this the big players of the industry joins the socialized housing bandwagon to building and cater the housing needs.
The increase in business confidence, more projects, and more people are able to work for a living will lead to more people added to the dwelling market. This increase is anticipated most especially for the eyeing foreign investors to invest more in the Philippines opening more opportunities for Filipinos to have a better life. According to Business Mirror, based on 3rd quarter monitoring, the prices of residential units increased by 9.2 percent, representing an exciting housing industry in the Philippines.