The skyline of the Makati central business district.
getty
Ayala Land—controlled by tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family’s Ayala Corp.—has paused the construction and marketing one of the country’s most luxurious residential condominium projects as construction costs have surged amid the ongoing Iran war.
The Manila-based builder said it has reached out to buyers of its Laurean Residences in the Makati central business district to discuss options ranging from refunds to rechanneling payments to other Ayala Land projects.
“We have made the prudent decision to strategically place sales of Laurean Residences on pause,” Ayala Land said in a statement. “The current environment presents increasing pressures on costs and reduced predictability in delivery timelines, affecting our ability to execute with the level of certainty we commit to our customers.”
Ayala Land started marketing the 67-story Laurean Residences in the fourth quarter of 2025, sensing strong interest in what would have been the country’s tallest residential skyscraper despite the ongoing over supply of condominiums in Metro Manila. The project reportedly generated sales of over 10 billion pesos ($170 million) before the company decided to pause the project.
“It’s the smartest thing to do,” says John Gatmaytan, chairman of Luna Securities. “The Middle East conflict and its effects were unforeseen so they aren’t legally liable for backing out on the project.”
Laurean is the anchor development of a 1.3 hectare mixed-use estate Ayala Land is developing in the Makati CBD. Amenities include landscaped gardens, a retail podium, resort‑style pool, fully equipped gyms, function rooms, social halls and children’s play area.
The project offers buyers one- to four-bedroom apartments, measuring between 75 square meters to 402 square meters of built up space. The units are priced from 35.7 million pesos ($600,000) to over 258 million pesos ($4.3 million) each. All of Laurean’s four-bedroom units have been fully taken up, according to property listings viewed by Forbes Asia.
Ayala Land said it’s taking a more deliberate approach in allocating its capital, prioritizing projects with clearer visibility on execution while strengthening its broader portfolio, particularly those with recurring income such as shopping malls, hotels and office buildings.
The Philippine property market should brace for similar project suspensions from other developers as the Middle East conflict has no resolution insight, increasing the likelihood that construction costs will continue to go up.
“We will hear more of this as the war gets prolonged – it may already be happening except developers are keeping quiet for this will impact revenue in six months,” Gatmaytan says. “We will also see cancellations outside of property because all sectors are getting hurt by high costs and supply bottlenecks fueled by the crisis.”
Ayala Corp. was started by the great grandfather of Jaime Zobel de Ayala, the family patriarch, in 1834 as a distillery. The Manila-listed company has since expanded into banking, energy, healthcare, logistics, utilities and real estate. With a net worth of $3.4 billion, the family is among the richest in the Philippines.
