With a plan to diversify its offering, SM Development Corp. (SMDC), real estate arm of the SM Group, is looking into putting up subdivisions.

Jeffrey Lim, president of SMDC, said SM Prime Holdings, Inc., said the initiative is driven by demand, particularly from overseas Filipino workers looking at horizontal developments in the P800,000 to P1.2 million price range.

“That is still in the planning stages, but hopefully we can launch one project within the year. We’re still finalizing the location, it’s either up north or south. But in terms of number, it’s not going to be significant in terms of the total number for SMDC, but we would like to try that as a pilot,” said Lim.

He said SMDC is eyeing P15 billion to P18 billion in capital spending for the year,  it plans to provide an additional supply of 12,000 to 14,000 units to the market with its launches this year.

SMDC looks to have four to five project launches for the year compared to just two last year, though Lim cited that last year’s activities included a number of expansions in the current portfolios.

“We see a lot of demand continuing. Like last December, we’re able to book about P4 billion sales. There was a time when we did P5 billion. Being able to get into that kind of range means there’s a lot of demand in terms affordable residential condo,” said Lim.

“We continue to look for areas we can develop. For horizontal development, we’re looking outside Metro Manila, but in Metro Manila we still have a lot of properties,” he added.

Lim also said the company is in the midst of planning for a residential development in China, with a goal to have construction start by the first half of the year.