350k 2 bedroom houses in dauin?

The prices folks are paying for homes in Dumaguete area are crazy . My wife told me what Filipino can afford a $200,000 home On $5 a day income ? She has told me that these homes are directed at foreigners that move to P.I. with money and most have a very hard time getting anywhere near what they put into them when they leave. She told me better to start with a shack and after you have lived there many years upgrade to something better once you know you want to stay. Plus she told me to many foreigner's buy big house and stick out as a big target to those that have nothing and have nothing to lose in trying to steal it from you.

 

got to agree with you there, I purchased a house in Bacolod in 2010 now not quite 2 years later have to sell it for 2 mill less, then we have the cap gains tax no gain so let’s call it capital rip off tax at 6% and the list goes on, a shack is a great idea cause that’s all I will be able to afford now, these houses are all overpriced when they target the foreigners, they tell you that they will appreciate, they show a house they built 2 years earlier and say this one is selling for this now, but the truth is houses here depreciate rapidly, so does the building, the quality of building is really bad, eg. 9 months paint going off, in AU 14 years later and the paint is still good, they don’t bother to kill termite nests off before building they just shovel the mound away then build straight over, then surprise surprise they infest your house from the inside within 8 months, floor tiles what is the go here they always come lose even in the malls and gov offices they all lift, I have tiled myself as a handy man my tiles didn’t lift.

 

Filipino businessmen (along with Korean and Chinese) along with lawyers, doctors, and dentists can often afford nice and newer homes, as can sugar cane plantation owners. Some government officials here also have nice homes. A good chunk of the Filipino work force works outside the country and are "wealthy" by Philippine standards also. The latest innovation is working online, and some (well?) educated Filipinos are catching on! Are all these in the majority? Not even close, but it is possible to make $$ here.

A lot of the big houses you see are older and left over from the Philippines glory days. They are often passed down to the next generation, who could not afford to rebuild if something happened.

 

Look at the number of new cars and trucks in the parking lot of Robinsons on a busy weekend. It would seem like there is a significant and steadily growing middle class now in the Philippines.

 

$350k for a 2-bedroom home on a very ordinary beach - plus $350 a month HOA...LOL...I l don't think so. As overpriced as we are down here - I could match that - without the HOA...within 2 hours of Perth.and minus the crap beach, pollution, noise, rip-off artists, and mediocre medical care...For that money and a bit further inland, add an acre or more of land. That's no bargain in 'paradise'. Half that maybe.....

 

If one builds a house from scratch, IE foundations onwards, be on site from day one till finished, using local labour.

Possible to have a two or three bedroom single story house with garage, built for 3 or 4 million peso's, excluding land.

Maybe less or more. !

 

Also they could be playing house lottery hoping that someone is well off enough to actually pay what they are asking so that they may be able to escape to someplace else, especially out of the PI!

 

I would nearly bet this property is leased by a foreigner or a "Green Card" holder who made a very bad business decision and is trying badly to make a fast buck and get out from under it..

 

Observation

Manzanita has a point. The Philippines has an alternative economy. Without any statistics to support what is viewable, there seems to have been a shift upwards in the Philippine middle class. Having seen various localities over the past couple of years it would appear more and better commercial buildings are going up; more expensive SUV's seem to be zooming around; large houses are popping up although not in significant numbers; the cost of food is rising; all in spite of significantly higher gas prices. There is a professional class who can afford housing and foreign "Baby Boomers"" may be looking for a reasonable place to retire. You see more Koreans, Chinese and Japanese here who find housing prices significantly less than what they experience at home. The change is more evident in provinces other than Dumaguete, probably since these areas are not as developed with many offering attractive beaches and easy air access. Trying to compare housing prices in the Philippines with more developed countries is difficult since the standards are so different and so many other factors peculiar to the Philippines play into a decision to live here; however, it will be interesting to see if a $350K seems like an exorbitant amount in 5 years.