Tanya Peralta-Yu on the new priorities reshaping Philippine real estate
The Filipino property buyer is changing—and with that shift comes a different set of expectations for the real estate industry.
Today’s homebuyer is looking beyond size, address or prestige. Affordability matters, but so do connectivity, flexibility, quality of life and whether a property can continue to serve changing needs over time.
In an interview with PhilSTAR Property, Tanya Peralta-Yu, Country Manager of Dot Property and Lamudi Philippines, said these shifts are increasingly visible in the way Filipinos search, compare and evaluate properties online.
“The clearest and most obvious change we see across Dot Property and Lamudi is that Filipinos are no longer searching for ‘a house’ in the abstract,” she says. “They are searching for a home that fits their lifestyle.”
A more intentional buyer
The change is not simply in what Filipinos want, but in how they make their decisions.
“They compare, read and shortlist online long before they ever visit a showroom,” Peralta-Yu says. “Value-for-money has overtaken pure prestige.”
Payment terms, location options and future resale potential now weigh heavily in purchasing decisions. Investors are also considering not only potential gains, but whether they can personally use a property should their plans change.
“In short, today’s buyer is more informed, more intentional and more demanding,” she says, “and developers are responding in kind.”
Affordability at the center
These changing expectations come amid continuing economic pressures.
Peralta-Yu identifies affordability as a central challenge, particularly for first-time buyers. Interest rates, construction costs, fuel prices, currency movements and the gap between incomes and property prices all affect purchasing power.
For developers, the challenge is responding to these realities while maintaining quality and managing costs and margins. Infrastructure and connectivity remain perennial concerns as well.
“A project’s success is increasingly tied to how well it connects to transport and daily conveniences,” she says.
What encourages Peralta-Yu is how developers are responding. She points to more flexible payment schemes and transit-oriented and mixed-use models that can reduce dependence on long commutes. She is also seeing mass-market and affordable housing being treated “far more seriously as genuine business priorities rather than afterthoughts.”
“This is a big move to really address what is needed,” she says.
Demand beyond the metro
The changing buyer is also reshaping where demand is emerging.
“Real estate inquiries and interest are broadening well beyond the Metro and the CBDs,” Peralta-Yu says, pointing to secondary cities and provincial hubs across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
Buyers are increasingly weighing affordability, space and quality of life against the capital’s density. Well-located condominiums near transport and workplaces continue to attract interest, while horizontal developments and community-oriented projects are gaining attention, particularly among families.
Much of the volume and momentum, she says, is in the mid-market and entry-level segments.
Taken together, these patterns point toward property demand that is increasingly decentralized, value-conscious and community-driven.
A compass for the industry
The same changes are informing a new chapter for the Philippines Real Estate Awards, following 10 years of the Dot Property Philippines Awards.
“We want the Philippine Real Estate Awards to be a mirror for the entire industry,” Peralta-Yu says, reflecting “not only excellence, but inclusivity, innovation, and adapting to the changing needs of Filipino homebuyers and investors.”
For Peralta-Yu, a more inclusive awards platform means making room for affordable housing, regional developers and emerging categories alongside established industry names.
Going forward, she sees the awards functioning “less like a trophy cabinet and more like a compass”—helping the industry understand where it is succeeding, where gaps remain and where it needs to go next.
THREE FORCES SHAPING WHAT
Comes next
Looking toward 2027, Peralta-Yu identifies three forces that will increasingly shape Philippine real estate: sustainability, affordable and inclusive housing, and technology.
First is sustainability. She believes it will move from being a selling point to an expectation, as buyers, end users and investors increasingly regard responsible, energy-conscious design as a baseline.
Second is affordable and inclusive housing, which she sees as both a major opportunity and responsibility for the industry.
“The developers who solve this well will define the next decade,” she says.
Third is technology, which will continue reshaping the property journey—from how people discover developments to how they evaluate properties and investments.
Ultimately, all three return to the same challenge reflected in today’s changing buyer: understanding what Filipinos need and being able to respond as those needs evolve.
“Continue to build projects that fit the lifestyle and current needs of Filipinos,” Peralta-Yu says.
And just as importantly, she adds, the industry must “continue to be adaptable to changes, as this shifts faster than it did a few years back.”
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