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Last Updated on July 6, 2022 by Lamudi
The year 2020 had caused a shift in lifestyle for homeowners and homebuyers everywhere, and with it property seeker preferences.
Property seekers can maximize their investments through awareness of trends–whether they be a homebuyer determining the right property for their lifestyle, or an investor seeking to understand the market and leverage the listing’s rentability. This report aims to assess real estate market preferences in 2021 as industries recover from the pandemic, and identify which segments boomed or softened amid the crisis.
Download the FULL trend report here.
Land and foreclosures most attractive property types for older property seekers.
Land experienced the greatest uptick in interest from property seekers, attracting the highest year-on-year growth in pageviews from 2H2019 at 63 percent. It was the property type that attracted the most property seekers aged 65 and up. While foreclosures contribute a small share of total pageviews, it is one of the fastest-growing property types, having increased by 23 percent from 2H2019 to 2H2020. Out of all the property types, foreclosures activated the most interest from the 55 – 64 seeker age group.
Open areas and multi-purpose spaces are growing in demand.
Property seekers prioritized spaces for fitness such as a swimming pool, which was the top sought-after amenity in 2020 at 17 percent of pageviews for the top 20 searched amenities. Gyms were the fifth most-searched amenity in 2020. The same held true for January 2021, pointing towards continued prioritized demand for these amenities this year.
Having open spaces such as balconies and gardens composed around 11 percent of all pageviews in 2020. With more consumers showing a preference towards safe and open areas, brokers and developers are encouraged to equip their projects with value-adding amenities such as open leisure and active centers, complemented by features such as contactless elevator buttons, automatic doors, and other precautions to minimize contact.
These open areas contributed as many leads in January 2021, having ended the month attracting 11% of all amenity leads.
Homebuyers are putting a premium on safe and secure homes.
Whereas having a wireless internet connection attracted as many pageviews as security-related features in 2020, leads for the latter outweighed the former in 2021. Developers are encouraged to have basic security features such as an attentive 24-hour security staff as well as CCTVs in less exposed areas such as parking lots.
Having digital security solutions such as app-controlled amenities and visitor screening systems in place would be an attractive addition to the majority of property seekers.
Rental market in leisure destinations boomed amid pandemic.
The vacation rental property market appears to have recovered in the second half of 2020. Rental properties for listings in Antipolo, Lapu-lapu and Tagaytay attracted more inquiries from property seekers in 2H2020, with leads for listings priced between 30K-60K increasing by 550% from 2H2019 and leads for listings priced between 60K-100K growing by 398% from 2H2019. So far, rental properties priced within the 5K to 15K range attracted the most leads in January 2021.
The buy market also increased significantly, with properties for sale in Antipolo, Lapu-lapu and Tagaytay all attracting significant increases in leads from 2H2019 to 2H2020. Mid-cost listings or those within the 3M to 4.5M range attracted the most leads in January 2021, pointing to a trend towards the affordable to mid-range segment.
Good governance factored into demand for fringe cities.
Cities located within the fringes of the metro continued to rise in popularity in 2H2020. Pateros – which holds the smallest share of pageviews for fringe cities – attracted the largest growth in both pageviews and leads in the second half of last year compared to the first. Pageviews for Pateros rose by 69 percent, while leads increased by an impressive 149 percent. Situated between Taguig and Pasig, the city is a convenient choice for yuppies looking to live near their offices in CBDs while enjoying lower prices per square meter.
Next to Pateros, Caloocan exhibited the highest growth in leads for that period. The city is on track to becoming the most significant driver of leads for fringe cities in 2021, with Caloocan contributing the greatest share of leads in January 2021 at 52%.
Developers and brokers are encouraged to watch out for vacant commercial and residential space in these areas. Marikina contributed 43 percent of all pageviews for the fringe cities assessed, owning the largest share of pageviews for the location group in 2020.
Valenzuela, which saw a 65 percent surge in leads and a 58 percent increase in pageviews, earned the second highest. Valenzuela’s city government was quick to respond to its constituents’ needs at the onset of the pandemic, distributing around 110,000 food packs as early as March 23rd – only a few days after the first announcement of a lockdown.