MANILA, Philippines – There won’t be shoebox-sized units under the SM Group’s new residential line.
SM Prime Holdings launched Signature Series on Wednesday, July 9. The new brand will cater to the premium residential market, tapping 400 hectares in the listed company’s land bank for its first projects.
“Over the next few years, we project to spend about P25 billion to develop our land bank in Susana Heights,” said Jose Juan Hugo, SM Executive Vice President and Group Head of Signature Series.
Susana Heights is a stone’s throw away from other exclusive enclaves in the south — Ayala Land’s Southvale, Ayala Alabang, and Verdana Homes villages, Filinvest’s Palms Point, and the Villar’s Portofino Heights — via the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway and Daang Hari.
It is located in Tunasan, Muntinlupa, and is home to some of SM Development Corporation’s (SMDC) horizontal and vertical projects — Lindenwood Residences and Leaf Residences.
Jugo said the SM Group has already acquired 284 hectares to develop Signature Series’ project within Susana Heights. Residential lots will be sold starting at P100 million, spanning at least 750 square meters up to over 1,000 square meters.
In the upcoming premium village, lot owners have the opportunity to design and construct their houses themselves provided that they follow the village’s deed of restrictions.
SM’s Signature Series also has a 6,000-square-meter property in one of the country’s central business districts.
“We’re also forging a very strategic partnership for a property in Makati, details of which will be disclosed at the proper time and the proper venue,” Hugo said.
Following consumers’ growth
Signature Series is SM Prime’s newest brand under the SM Residences umbrella, the property giant’s portfolio of horizontal and vertical residential offerings.
It is its own legal entity registered as Signature Development Corporation and has its own separate team.
“We’re gearing up for the new projects coming online,” Jugo said. “We are bringing in… in-house sellers that have experience with the upscale market, that are experienced in this particular market segment, and we’re developing a broker network that specializes in premium products.”
The Sy family has, as Jugo put it, a “gigantic presence” in the middle-income market segment via SMDC. Properties under the company are sold within the P3 million to P13 million price range.
“The challenge we’ve had is that this gigantic market we’ve been part of creating… they will not be in that market forever. They will eventually have bigger families, they’ll have more disposable income, they will have upgrade requirements,” Jugo said.
“We want to be there for them, to continue servicing them when their needs evolve,” he added. “With greater wealth, with bigger families, with larger space requirements — we want to be there when that time comes for them.”
However, the price tag for Susana Heights will not be the standard. There will also be vertical developments in the pipeline.
Premium space under the Signature Series may start at P15 million, upscale properties will be sold at around P25 million, and only the ultra-luxury developments will be priced over P60 million.
Luxury property craze
Although a huge chunk of the 400-hectare land bank is associated with the Susana Heights project, SM’s Signature Series will also tap the group’s land bank in Pasay, Manila, Parañaque, Taguig, Cebu, Pasig, Cavite, Tagaytay, and Batangas.
The expansion to locations beyond Metro Manila is consistent with where property investors are going.
Luxury developer Rockwell Land logged P3.5 billion of its P8.2-billion reservation sales from horizontal developments outside Metro Manila in the first quarter of 2025. Condominium developments only accounted for 20% of the sales.
Other property giants are pouring their funding into projects outside the metro. Megaworld Corporation is setting up two new townships in “key growth areas” in Luzon and Visayas in 2025.
Andoy Beltran, vice president and head of business development and market education at First Metro Securities, previously told Rappler that people now want more space and are going to nearby areas or are settling in emerging economic hubs. – Rappler.com