The exodus of expats from Papua New Guinea due to COVID-19 has had a dramatic effect on the country’s real estate sector. Robert Upe reports.
real estate
The COVID-19 crisis has forced companies in Papua New Guinea to find new ways of doing business. Matthew Care, Chief Executive and Founder of real estate portal Hausples, explains to Business Advantage PNG that his company has never been more innovative.
The upper end of the housing market in Papua New Guinea is being adversely affected by the closure of the international borders, according to Tom Snelling, General Manager of property classifieds site Hausples.com. But he expects that there will be more movement in the cheaper areas of the real estate market.
A new report indicates that most Papua New Guineans still consider house prices to be out of reach, although some believe this is an ideal time for buying.
Hausples.com.pg has released its Real Estate Survey 2018, which shows that the biggest challenge for the market is supply side factors such as land titles, infrastructure and private sector investment. But it says these issues ‘are slowly being addressed’ and that there is ‘unequivocal market demand for housing at various price points.
Commercial real estate activity in Port Moresby and Lae remains strong despite a fall in demand for executive rentals associated with the winding down of the six-year construction phase of the ExxonMobil-led LNG PNG project.
One of PNG’s largest and most diversified companies has a new Managing Director. We caught up with Steamships’ Geoff Cundle (pictured below) a few weeks into his new job.