Homes For The Law and REIT

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't blogged in more than a week!  10 days to be exact.  Truth is, news tend to be more or less the same, day in and day out.  Save for your occasional surprising tidbit, like Holcim increasing the price of cement by P10 when demand is seen to actually start falling due to the wet season, there's really not much to say about the real estate industry.  Sure there are still lots of exciting developments; condos are springing up left and right, even in Leyte, can you believe it?  But in general, there aren't a lot of really interesting news to share.  Well, I decided to just talk a bit about P-Noy's effort to help out our cops and soldiers, and the REIT again.

News about the housing units distributed to qualified policemen and soldiers is interesting because everybody's struggling to get their own piece of land, and being a cop or soldier in the Philippines doesn't exactly make one rich.  So it's always good news to hear about the government helping them out.  It's not a bad deal, too.  The article states: "A housing unit at the AFP/PNP Heroes Ville Housing Project in San Jose del Monte City with a lot area of 36 square meters and floor area of 22 square meters is worth P140,000, payable in 30 years at six percent per annum."  The monthly amortization starts off at P200 for the first 5 years, and gradually goes up to P809.53 from the 26th year onwards.  Maybe that'll be enough incentive for our law enforcers to stay clean, if you get what I mean.

As far as the REIT goes, Finance secretary Cesar Purisima said he had signed the tax rules already, but the government will impose value-added tax (VAT) on properties that will be transferred to REITs.  Still, notwithstanding that fact, shares of property developers such as Ayala Land and SM Prime Holdings have gone up on speculation that the introduction of REIT in the country will boost its value.  Philippine Stock Exchange President Hans Sicat disclosed that the minimum public ownership required is 40%, which will further be expanded to 67% in the next three years.  I think it's wise to keep an eye out for this investment, as the real estate industry in the Philippines is currently very healthy, one might stand to gain a lot, were one to play the cards right.

That's all for now, folks.  Have a good weekend, watch a movie, spend time with loved ones.  Be happy, stay healthy.

Jon