Philippines tops emerging market hotspots

Quezon, Philippines Photo: Justin Jovellanos

Quezon City in the Philippines is the top property hotspot in emerging markets, according to new research.

The city led the list of most searched-for locations in the first quarter of 2015, according to Lamudi.

The ranking is based on the most popular search terms in the first three months of the year on the portal, which covers 32 countries across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Quezon City - the most populous city in the Philippines and Metro Manila’s largest city - had the greatest volume of online search traffic. Almost 50,000 searches were carried out by consumers looking for property in Quezon City; currently, Lamudi Philippines offers almost 7,000 properties to buy or rent in the area.

"The area’s residential property market is currently thriving, with the city also boasting an abundance of commercial real estate, including condominiums, shopping malls and offices in development," says Lamudi.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest and most populous metropolitan city, was the second most sought after location; over 44,900 searches for one of Lamudi Pakistan’s 52,833 listed properties in the city were carried out between January and March.

Indonesian capital Jakarta ranked in third place, with 36,315 searches in Q1 2015. While the cost of living in Jakarta is high, this has clearly not deterred property hunters from searching for real estate in Indonesia’s largest city.

The most populous city in Nigeria - Lagos - claimed fourth place in the global ranking. More than 34,100 users used the Lamudi website to look for property in Lagos, where the portal has over 26,000 residential and commercial properties, as well as land and developments, available.

Rounding out the top five was another of Pakistan’s largest metropolises, Lahore.