Influx of Filipino-American retirees in Davao seen

by Prix D Banzon

Fil-Americans are among those that are into building their retirement homes in Davao City.  Romeo G. Birrey of the Philippine Institute of Architects who is chair of the finance committee of the 5th Mindanao Design and Construction Fair said these Fil-Americans are from Davao who had stayed for a long time in the United States and will soon retire in the city.

Birrey has about 30 high-end projects with cost ranging from P7 million to P15 million or more and mostly his clients are Fil-Americans.

He said with the number of over a hundred high end projects here it would indicate that construction business in Davao City is really booming.

Davao City has about a dozen high-end subdivisions where Dabawenyos from abroad after for a good home location would come home to build their homes where they could retire.

Sonny Labao, president of the Philippine Institute of Architects said that sometimes prospective homebuyers put up apartments where they take the first door and the rest will be rent out to others. This would allow the retiree to engage in income generating projects, he said.

He said there are other options but normally they buy and construct their homes but in some cases these homebuyers do not want to go into construction because it is very costly. They buy house and lot in high end areas have it refurbished in accordance to the design and specifications that they like.

Labao meanwhile said that Davao buyers are now conscious on what to build. These are the patterns and designs that can be seen among others in Forbes Park in Manila.

But plush subdivisions here like Robinsons are already into it as building owners would specify that they want such specific designs.

He said the “Forbes” setting of Manila is slowly invading Davao City and this is not farfetched because their high end clients are into it already.

He said this will really boast the architectural industry where current figure of practicing architects are about a hundred now. (PIA XI)