MANILA - The country's largest property developer plans to launch more projects across all market segments, not just in the resilient low-cost sector, confident of industry prospects for 2010.

Bobby O. Dy, Ayala Land, Inc.’s senior vice-president and head of the firm’s residential business group, said the past six months have shown a "significant" recovery compared with the first quarter.

"Consumer confidence is up and the cautiousness is starting to dissipate. This, along with a big backlog in the housing sector [allow us to be] optimistic for next year," he said at the sidelines of the company’s property exhibit yesterday.

"We will make major launches next year. We are ramping up the projects [across all our three units] next year," he said but did not elaborate.

Ayala Land’s projects fall under three units — Avida Land which focuses on the lower-end market, Alveo Land which targets the middle-income market, and Ayala Land Premier which is the company’s high-end unit.

Early this year, the property developer put on hold some of its high-end projects amid economic uncertainty. Ayala Land saw its profits fell by a third to P2.07 billion from January to June because of lower residential sales.

The company had to shift its strategy and entered the market for homes priced at less than P1 million, the segment said to be the most resilient in the property sector. The company had built a reputation on high-end property projects.

But Thomas F. Mirasol, Ayala Land Premier assistant vice-president, said the company now plans to introduce two new high-end projects before yearend, the first for Ayala Land this year.

"We have been planning to launch these projects but [when the year started], we did not think that the market was ready. But apparently, there is already an improvement in demand so we are looking at launching these two new projects," he said.

Mr. Mirasol did not elaborate but said the new projects will be in Central Luzon.

Mr. Mirasol noted that when the year started, the challenge for the company was to maintain its profitability but things changed in the second quarter and Ayala Land had to set aside enough inventory amid a housing backlog that is estimated to be at 3.8 million units.

"We had to accelerate the developments of our projects. The second set of units in Montecito in Canlubang for instance is [already sold out] and this will soon be followed by the third release of inventories," he said.

Mr. Mirasol said the company’s pipeline for reservations has already hit the P1-billion mark, which is considered a healthy level.

"While demand from the overseas Filipinos remains stable, the company is experiencing a surge in demand coming from the locals," he said.

"Traditionally, the third quarter is considered the lean [season] but we did not experience that. The surge in sales during the second quarter continued until the third quarter," Mr. Mirasol said.

Ayala Land, along with sister BPI Family Savings Bank, yesterday launched its three-part series of property exhibits which will run until November.

Dubbed the "Dream Deal" series, BPI Family Savings will offer lower interest rates of 8.5% to 9.5% for housing loans and waive the appraisal fee.

"Through this partnership, we not only aim to spur the growth in the property sector but also give people financing options to make their dream homes reality," said Jocelyn Sta. Ana, BPI Family Savings Bank head of retail mortgage.

The largest thrift bank in the country said the devastation brought by storm Ondoy would not dampen the demand for housing loans.

"I don’t think demand for housing loans will slow down because of Ondoy," BPI Family Savings Bank president Alfonso L. Salcedo, Jr. said.

He said low interest rate environment still makes the purchases of homes a viable proposition, and prospects of rising borrowing costs by the end of the year will prompt borrowers to buy as early as possible.

Shares in Ayala Land went up by 4.34% or P0.50 to P12 apiece yesterday.