Philippine Real estate companies biggest winners in 2005!
05/04/2006

Real estate developers posted the largest growth in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2005 among the six major industries monitored by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

In its latest Quarterly Economic Indices (QEI) report, the NSCB said the gross revenue of the real estate sector surged by 41 percent year-on-year in the final quarter of 2005.

This was much faster than the average revenue growth of 15.5 percent among the six industries that include manufacturing, trade, transportation and communication, finance and private services.

"Increased sales from residential projects and higher income from rental and leasing operations contributed significantly to the robust growth of real estate," NSCB OIC secretary general Estrella Domingo said.

The finance sector, which is composed of banks and other financial institutions, realized a revenue growth of 23 percent in the fourth quarter.

An upsurge in non-interest income such as trading gains from government securities drove the growth in financial revenues, Domingo said.

This was followed by the 16.6 percent growth in manufacturing, 16.1 percent in trade, 10.4 percent in transportation and communication, and 6.5 percent in private services.

While revenues posted a double-digit increase, the growth in employment among the six industries slowed to 2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 from 2.3 percent a year ago.

Employment in real estate and finance went up by 6.1 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.

Total compensation paid out by all industries in cash and in kind grew by 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter, albeit at a slower pace than 7.7 percent growth a year earlier.

Among the industries that raised their salaries were finance and transportation and communication.

The QEI provides measures of growth in production, gross revenue, employment and compensation in the various sectors of the economy.

According to the NSCB, the QEI was developed to guide users for a more meaningful economic analysis of current economic behavior and events and is also used as deflators to express a current value in real terms, as bases for wage formulation and for forecasting and projections.

by Roderick T. dela Cruz
for Manila Standard Today