Why Invest In The Philippines?

Strategic location

The Philippines is situated in the heart of the Asia-Pacific Region—the fastest growing region in the world.

Its proximity to 10 major cities in Asia makes the flow of trade and investments convenient.


A haven of highly-skilled human resources

The Philippines gets high marks for its large, educated talent pool and English language skills. It shares a language and legal system with the US, and offer high skills and low costs. They could outrun India for outsourcing dollars. –BusinessWeek With an English-proficient workforce, the outsourcing business is now a US $3 billion industry in the Philippines. The recent growth spurt in the outsourcing industry in the Philippines has been fueled not by traditional low-value added call centers but more higher-end outsourcing such as legal services, Web design, medical transcription, software development, animation, and shared services. Though call centers still form the largest part of the sector, the Philippines has begun leveraging its creative design talent pool, its large pool of lawyers, and its professionals in accounting and finance.

“It is clear that Philippines is now very much on the global map for outsourcing.” - Goldman Sachs

Robust tourism

The number of tourists visiting the Philippines breached the three-million mark in 2007, with spending by foreign tourists reaching almost P5 billion for various services and products. Tourist expenditures reached $4.885 billion in 2007, surpassing the $3.782-billion target.


Increased consumer spending power

The country’s outsourcing boom is providing its workforce with moredisposable income that are actively spent on retail goods.


The Philippines: One of Goldman Sachs’ N11 countries

The global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs has named the Philippines as part of the N11—the Next 11 countries with the highest economic potential in the world. Forming part of the N11 are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Vietnam. All 11 countries demonstrate population growth rates above those of Western developed economies, indicating greater consumer market potential over the medium term. Large populations represent a wide potential pool of consumers for businesses to target; while high growth rates mean that this market will expand rapidly, providing proportionally more potential customers.

The Philippine economic resurgence

We are on the verge of the biggest real estate boom in history, set to totally eclipse the 1997 Asian crisis, and fueled by money fromFilipinos working abroad, foreign investment and a strong and bullish economy. The real estate boom will encompass a wide range of developments – from residential houses to condo units, to office towers, leisure facilities, hotels, warehouses and factories. A surging demand for real estate is expected to sustain a continued surging growth of the real estate industry. The Philippines has emerged a strong second to India in the global outsourcing market. In 2006, it recorded $3.6 billion in earnings, a 50% jump from 2005. By 2010 it is expected to earn as much as $12.2 billion. Big outsourcing players in the U.S. such as Sykes Enterprises Inc., Convergys, PeopleSupport Inc., Accenture and eTelecare Global solutions have already set up headquarters in the Philippines. Dell Inc. recently opened a contact center and is on schedule to open a second one. The Philippines is becoming a much preferred option as it has stronger cultural ties to the United States than India and it is expected to catch up and even overtake India as a market leader. Remittances from Filipino expatriates has grown to over $1.5- billion dollars a month or P759.3 billion in 2007. The current economic managers of the country have remained steadfast in pursuing a blueprint for an economically prosperous future.

Why Invest in Philippine Real Estate?

Housing is always a rewarding investment as it gives one a sense of pride and ownership.

After a 7-year downturn, the Asian market that includes the Philippines is expected to recover and outperform other markets.

Consumer incomes are rising, unemployment is falling and interest rates are down.

Prices in Metro Manila are inexpensive compared to other major cities around the world.

Property is a good hedge against inflation.

Rental income from property is a stable source of income, and while it may fluctuate, is highly unlikely to vanish altogether, unlike stocks.