Land / house prices

I would welcome the forum's opinion on this subject.
We are just back for a visit this year but intend to come back permanent next year so we have been looking at a few lots with or without houses, we are only interested in 2000sqm or larger and have found the prices are unbelievably high, I cannot believe anyone is really paying these sort of prices.
We looked at one yesterday 2200sqm fully fenced and a small house which we would have had to demolish or use as a helpers house, they want 5.5m ! the best bit was they told us last year it was 4.5m, so it looks like if you can't sell at 4.5 the answer is to raise to 5.5, must make sense to someone.
When we lived here before for 6 years we eventually managed to sell our house and lot after 2 years on the market for slightly less than we paid which tells me we probably paid too much at the beginning.
This time it's going to be our final retirement home and I don't want to make the same mistake again.
So as I said at the beginning I would welcome the forum's opinion/ advice, have I just been looking at the wrong places or is 2000php + per sqm the norm.

 

Which location is that? I think it varies greatly between different locations.

 

Valencia

 

Php2000 per sqm is the going price in Valencia, slightly cheaper the further you go up and away from the main roads. As long as you aren’t buying prime lots across the National Highway, Bacong is still selling at Php1000 to Php1500. The further you go from the city, the cheaper it will get. Dumaguete is selling at Php8000 for residential and this was last year.

 

And that's the prices for bare land.
So if you found a fully fenced Lot with a house at the same price it's probably not a bad buy.
Even if the house will be bulldozed it still has the services in place.

 

Bacong has increased significantly.

 

As has Valencia. 2,000 is towards the lower end. Near the town proper 2,500 to 3,000 psm now the norm. Further up towards Lunga and towards the Japanese Shrine considerably cheaper. Property inside the town proper is getting like Dumaguete. Case of most of the prime locations having been purchased already.

 

First to say that most property prices are completely overrated. The market value is currently around double of the real value if it is a house and lot property. Try to get the prices down as much as possible. If you pay the asked price you pay far too much.

 

And the huge price increase in the last four years. Four years ago you could get for 4 mio PHP a 100 sqm condo. Now you get only 25 to 40 sqm for the same price.