Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI), a leading property developer in the Visayas and Mindanao regions, is considering initiating a development project in Cavite amid a significant demand for affordable housing in the area.

CLI Chief Operating Officer Jose Franco Soberano said during an analyst and media briefing last week that the company’s expansion to Luzon was influenced by “a lot of land owners knocking on our doors.”

“We need to filter this out well but we’re eyeing a Cavite development. Camarines Sur was our original exploratory area and now Cavite is coming in strong. We have a few partnership opportunities in the heart of Metro Manila as well,” Soberano said.

“Once it is more firm and definite, we will disclose it. It's this year. Our office will open very soon in the Makati area. we’re excited to see how well our projects will perform. We’re excited about how well we can compete (in Luzon) using the values that helped us get where we are,” he added.

CLI first announced its foray into the Luzon property market last February with the announcement of launching its maiden project by the second half of the year, featuring its economic housing brand Casa Mira.

Meanwhile, CLI chief financial officer Beauregard Grant Cheng said the company targets to launch 11 new projects this year worth over P27.65 billion in saleable market value.

“(This is) our takeup target, a rolling target based on when we launched it, we target to sell out over 75 percent of our projects within the first twelve months of launch,” Cheng said.

“On average, we sell out close to 90 percent of the projects within the first twelve months. Some projects sell out too fast which just means we have not squeezed every drop of juice from that orange and we couldn't raise prices faster but we’re happy that our customers find our offerings to be the best value for money.”

For the first quarter of the year, CLI reported a 15 percent normalized growth in its net income, reaching P978 million from P847 million last year due to strong growth of its business segments.

The bottom line growth was supported by a 31 percent improvement in consolidated revenue to P6.235 billion as of the end of March, from P4.777 billion in the same period last year.