WHILE urban development persists in the National Capital Region (NCR), the demand for property in its surrounding areas and districts has led to the continuing rise of “Mega Manila.” This term covers the areas within Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Bulacan and Pampanga, which are benefiting from the expansion and growth of the NCR.

Aside from the spread of urbanization to provinces north and south of the capital, another noticeable trend is the increasing appetite for townships or mixed-use development districts that cover a large geographic area.

These complexes feature residential, office, retail and institutional establishments. Newer townships are integrated developments where projects built are near transport hubs or major infrastructure that will connect them to other townships and major cities.

“About 60 percent of the Philippines GDP is in Metro Manila, so the proximity of these locations on the fringes has been the beneficiary of this expansion,” Roy Amado Golez Jr., research director of real estate firm Leechiu Property Consultants, explains the persistent trend.

Spurring these economic developments in turn are acceptable travel times to and from work daily, new infrastructure connections, population growth, and private sector investments by developers of new real estate, which are industrial, commercial, and/or residential in nature.

The townships are growing in these areas because the high quality of their design, master planning, and development draw in companies “which bring jobs … which in turn bring in the population and create more jobs,” continues Golez.

Apparently, there is equally an increasing number of the population who are open to relocation and a different kind of employment. Golez elaborates, “The pandemic highlighted the need for more breathing space or a space to recharge. There is also more emphasis on maximizing time, so to minimize time spent in traffic to travel to and from the office, homes near the office are preferred.”

These new home owners move to these areas “because they are

near their place of work, good and reputable schools, shopping centers, medical institutions, other family members, or other places that are important to them,” says Golez.

Young and familyoriented

Leechiu research describes the atypical homeowners moving into a township as young individuals ranging from 30 to 40 years old. They are family-driven: they have their own or plan on having one, and if they can afford it and if space allows, are open to bringing members of their extended clan to live with them.

The pandemic made these mostly former condominium unit owners realize they wanted more open spaces in case another crisis happens. They also want less air and noise pollution, and they are keen to avoid traffic. At the core of their motivation to move is the dream of “wanting to have one’s own house, with a lawn or garden, a carpark or garage, and located inside a gated subdivision,” says Golez.

As a result, townships are now seen by developers as viable real estate investment locations and areas for living, where land values and space values have experienced steady increases annually.

According to the Leechiu Q3 Property Market report, loan approvals for new housing units in regions outside of the NCR are on the rise, with 48 percent attributed to Calabarzon and Central Luzon in the first quarter of this year. Singledetached homes experienced an increase in granted loans (47.8 percent) from 2016 to the first quarter of 2023, as “more developers expand to horizontal projects outside Metro Manila,” says the report.

To support this trend, Leechiu Property Consultants provides advisory services to assist developers and the government in their development planning for building the appropriate townships with the ideal market-based land use and amenities mix arising from its best use studies.

It also provides recommendations on the type of development that would maximize returns and generate the best value for stakeholders, promoting geographically inclusive growth that would generate economic advancement across the country. Some of its current projects include developing commercial lots in Nuvali and Lima, Batangas, just to name a few.

To sustain the growth of these townships and Mega Manila, Golez says that what is essential is connectivity provided by a collaboration between the public and private sectors: “… Roads, rails or bridges as well as water, electricity, telecommunications, and fiber optics. These requirements are more often addressed by the private sector through their normal course of doing business.”

Meanwhile, the government can respond to the “need for high security and peace and order, as well as [the construction of] civic centers and government services.”

He reiterates their objective: “... facilitating and [improving the] ease of doing business, and a better quality of life for the residents.”