THE strong demand for house and lot projects, especially outside Metro Manila, and the robust performance of the economic-to-affordable condominium segments in the National Capital Region (NCR) were the two “bright spots” in the residential property landscape. The Philippine residential market continues to be overshadowed by the Middle East crisis, which real estate advisory firm Colliers Philippines reported in its virtual Q2 Philippine Property Market Briefing on July 30.
The conflict in the Middle East — which accounts for nearly a fifth of total OFW remittances — remains a risk to remittances, and consequently real estate purchases, Colliers Director and Head of Research Joey Roi Bondoc said. Remittance-receiving households have been tempering their real estate allocation, with a decline from 17 percent to 14 percent in Q1 2026, Bondoc said, citing a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) survey.
Nevertheless, the house and lot sector and leisure-themed developments outside the NCR are showing more resilience.
Presently, the house and lot inventory in key markets outside NCR amounts to 7.1K units priced from P3.6 million to P5 million. Cavite, Pampanga, and Batangas have cornered this segment, accounting for a combined 56 percent of total stock, with Cavite recording the highest average provincial take-up at 96 percent Bondoc said the House and Lot segment is a property sub-segment that generates huge demand from the end-user market, particularly if the average price is around P4.2 million per house and lot. Vertical projects in the provinces have not been left behind, with their 90 percent take-up.
He noted that developers have been aggressive in expanding their leisure-themed properties not just in Luzon but in Visayas and Mindanao as well, driven by the demand of foreign and domestic tourism markets. Notable projects include Alpine Villas-Basel by Brittany (Cavite); Rockwell Land’s Cabo San Diego (Batangas) and Villas by Aruga (Cebu); Ortigas Land’s Costa Calatagan (Batangas); DMCI Homes’ Solmera Coast (Batangas); Apple One Group’s Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort; and Damosa Land’s Bridgeport Park (Davao). About 80 to 100 percent of the units in these properties are sold out.
In Metro Manila, pre-selling condominium activity remains subdued, with 2,600 units launched and 1,700 units sold in H1, down 64 percent and 47 percent year on year (YoY), respectively. In terms of project completions, Colliers recorded only one project completed, Sunny Coast Residential Resort (539 units), in the Bay Area. For H1 2026, 2,500 condominium units were completed, while 9,800 units are due for completion in H2 of this year. Overall, residential vacancy stood at 24.9 percent as of Q2 2026, skewed by the Bay Area, which recorded a high 58 percent vacancy.
“The economic and affordable segments are doing the heavy lifting,” Bondoc pointed out. These segments in the price range of P1.8 million to P3.59 million accounted for 67 percent of the total take-up in H1 2026. Colliers recorded more back-outs than take-up in the lower- and upper-mid-income segments. Metro Manila has about 80,000 unsold condominium inventory as of Q2 2026, 32,000 of which are ready-for-occupancy (RFO). The unsold inventory figures are significant, Bondoc noted, in spite of ramped-up efforts by developers to offer attractive payment terms and lease-to-own schemes. Industry organizations have proposed lifting the VAT exemption on residential units to make them more affordable and accessible, especially to the middle-class Filipinos. Bondoc said the proposal will benefit many developers, especially with sizable unsold RFO units in the price range of P3.6 to P5 million in Quezon City, Parañaque and Pasay, and in the provinces as well.
Colliers reported a significant decline in LTS (License to Sell) approvals, with only 30,000 units approved in H1 2026, compared with an average of 270,000 units annually from 2016 to 2025. An 82 percent decline in issuances was recorded for H1 2026 vis a vis H1 2025. The slow issuance of LTS approvals is restricting the supply of residential units, which potentially leads to higher prices, Bondoc explained. “Hopefully, we see a faster, accelerated approval of Licenses to Sell, whether for house and lot or condominium,” he said. “Expedited LTS issuance will address the supply bottleneck and also provide more options for Filipino buyers, whether they are end-users or investors.”
