Manila’s Bel-Air Neighbourhood Is as Posh as It Sounds
The enclave, close to the “Wall Street of the Philippines” and top schools, is among the affluent pockets benefitting from a surge in the capital’s luxury home prices
4 min
Makati, a major business district in the Philippines, has roots dating to the 17th century, but it wasn’t until the mid-1900s that the city began its rapid development.
Within that urban hub, the planned community of Bel-Air, once suburban housing requested by Philippine Airlines pilots (hence “Air” in the name) has matured into one of the most upmarket communities in Metro Manila. It’s now among the affluent pockets benefitting from a high-end housing boom in the Philippine capital, which led the world in luxury price growth last year, according to the latest Prime Global Cities Index from London-based property firm Knight Frank.
Manila’s luxury home prices remained the fastest rising in the world in the first quarter of this year as well.
“This increase is driven by rising housing demand, with agents reporting a surge in requirements from expatriates returning to manage local businesses as the economy shows strong performance,” Knight Frank wrote in the report.
The name Bel-Air refers to both the barangay—an administrative division of a larger city—and to Bel-Air Village, one of several exclusive gated housing communities developed in Makati. Bel-Air Village was developed in four phases during the 1950s and 1960s, identified by number.
With just over 36,000 residents according to the 2020 Philippine census, Barangay Bel-Air has the second-largest population of Makati’s 33 barangays. Makati, with a population of nearly 630,0000, is now a major Asian economic centre, home to leading local and multinational enterprises and known colloquially as the Wall Street of the Philippines.
Boundaries
The level, tree-lined streets of Bel-Air cover 171.2 hectares (more than 420 acres) in central Makati, southeast of Manila.
Barangay Bel-Air’s borders unevenly resemble a tobacco pipe and the borders touch several others. Poblacion and Guadalupe Viejo bound it to the north, Urandeta, San Lorenzo and Forbes Park to the south, Guadalupe Viejo and Pinagkaisahan to the east and Santa Cruz and San Antonio to the west.
While Bel-Air Village is only made up of residences, the wider barangay encompasses mixed-use areas like Salcedo Village. Barangay Bel-Air also includes the Ayala North office development, Ayala Triangle Gardens and the Buendia Avenue Extension.
Price
A survey of online real estate listings by financial company Digido indicated buyers can expect to spend between 135 million to 424 million pesos (US$2.35 million to US$7.39 million) when purchasing in Barangay Bel-Air.
At the price spectrum’s lower end, luxury buyers can purchase condos or Bel-Air Village homes with smaller living spaces or fewer amenities and updates.
A Knight Frank listing for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-story home in Bel-Air 1, with a pool and parking for two cars costs 220 million pesos. Meanwhile, a five-bedroom, tri-level penthouse in Barangay Bel-Air’s Avignon Tower is selling for 230 million pesos.
A review of listings from the DotProperty multiple listing service show updated and newer build four- or five-bedroom homes in Bel Air Village priced between 350 million and 400 million pesos. A Luxe Realty listing for a two-story Bel-Air 4 house with a 698-square-meter lot is at the market’s higher end, 400 million pesos. It has four bedrooms, three baths, a swimming pool, gazebo, rooms for domestic staff and a three-car garage.
Housing Stock
Bel-Air Village has 950 lots and 32 streets, on which three- to five-bedroom homes are common. Homes frequently feature amenities like swimming pools, outdoor living spaces like lanais and multi-car garages. Original Bel-Air homes date from the 1950s and ’60s and borrow architectural cues taken from mid-century American suburban developments. Light-filled, recently constructed luxury homes are also available to buyers at a premium.
Luxury condominium options within Barangay Bel-Air include the 46-story, four-tower Jazz Residences and the 36-story Regency at Salcedo.
Amenities
Bel-Air residents live near some of the best high-end shopping in the Philippines. This includes the upmarket Glorietta and Greenbelt malls. The new One Ayala mixed-use development, which includes offices, retail, a four-star hotel and a public transport hub, is expected to fully open this year.
Bel-Air is located a short drive from the Manila Polo Club and the members-only Manila Golf and Country Club in neighbouring Forbes Park, the latter of which offers skyline views from the greens.
Bel-Air families are spoiled for choice regarding school options. Several faith-based and international schools are within the city of Makati. Bel-Air is also a 15-minute drive from two of Metro Manila’s most prestigious schools, both in Bonifacio Global City. International School Manila offers middle and high school education, while the British School Manila educates students from nursery school through high school graduation.
What Makes It Unique
Properties in the gated Bel-Air Village offer residents privacy, security and access to exclusive facilities like badminton and basketball courts, function rooms and a gym. Though metro Manila is known for having few green spaces, Bel-Air 2 and 3 have parks.
Bel-Air residents are within walking distance to Makati’s Ayala Triangle Gardens, a leafy two-hectare urban park. Residents can also shop for fresh food and other wares at the 100-plus vendor Salcedo Community Market, open every Saturday at Jamie C. Velasquez Park in Salcedo Village.
Who Lives There
Bel-Air households skew older and smaller than other parts of Metro Manila, but the barangay’s central location, cleanliness and security make it attractive to families with school-age children. Convenient access to Makati’s central business district makes Bel-Air appealing to executives who work there. Makati is also home to several embassies, with Bel-Air housing the Consulates General of Ireland and San Marino.
Notable Residents
Former Manila mayor Lito Atienza and his son, television host and former Manila city councilor Kim “Kuya Kim” Atienza, are among the residents who have lived in the barangay over the years. Actors Dominic Ochoa, Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera have also called Bel-Air home over the years
Outlook
Manila experienced a 26.2% year-over-year increase in the price of luxury homes in the first quarter, according to Knight Frank, the highest of the 45 major cities around the world ranked in its index released Friday.
Colliers International expects the ultra-luxury segment of Philippine real estate to remain resilient “amid the rising interest and mortgage rates.” The firm reported Makati central business district has seen improved rates of condominiums leased in 2023.
“Leasing demand continues to be driven by returning expatriates looking for bigger units that are also near offices and international schools,” the Colliers report said.
With luxury developments proliferating in other areas of Metro Manila, these factors may suggest future scarcity and price growth in elite barangays like Bel-Air.
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Kit Braden, an executive at French beauty empire L’Occitane, has spent every winter for the past 13 years at the stone vacation home.
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A historic Barbados estate with a 300-year-old villa and 11 acres overlooking the Caribbean Sea is now for sale with a guide price of $22.5 million.
The seller is Kit Braden, chairman of the U.K. branch of French beauty empire L’Occitane Group, whose family has spent every winter for the last 13 years at the island property, known as Fustic Estate.
“It’s very much a family house,” Braden said. “We love having a lot of people there. It’s a collection point to keep everyone together.”
The main villa dates to 1712, though it’s been reimagined and expanded substantially over the years.
It spans 13,000 square feet and features seven en suite bedrooms across three wings, as well as expansive verandas, stone courtyards and rows of louvered doors in gay Caribbean pastels.
In the 1970s, when the home was owned by Charles Graves—brother of British poet Robert Graves—it was reimagined by stage designer Oliver Messel, one of the foremost theater designers of the last century. Messel expanded the home, added a lagoon pool with a natural waterfall and other theatrical features, according to Braden.
“The whole place is a little bit magical,” he said.
The home sits about 350 feet above the water, and surrounded by lush gardens that slope towards the water.
“We look down through our garden—which is about 12 acres of tropical gardens and palm trees and wonderful old mahogany trees—onto the Caribbean,” Braden said.
He and his wife first saw the property on New Year’s Eve 2013, during a quick trip from where they were staying in Grenada.
The couple spent an hour walking the perimeter, some of it still untouched jungle, in the pouring rain.
“By the time we got back, I had fallen in love with it,” Braden said.
His wife, however, wasn’t so sure. But in Braden’s telling, a second visit in sunnier weather with two of their children brought her around.
“She had to be talked into that it was a jolly good idea; now she absolutely loves it,” he said.
When they bought the property, the edge that runs along the waterfront was a jungle, so they cleared the ridge and transformed it into gardens.
They also bought an additional sea-level parcel with two beach cottages, giving the property direct access to the water and the town below via a five-minute walk.
The property also has a 15-person staff, a reflecting pond, an outdoor pavilion suitable for yoga and a commercial grade kitchen that can serve more than 100 guests, according to a brochure from Knight Frank, which posted the listing in March. They did not provide further comment.
For Braden, the property is special because of its natural beauty, its proximity to the town of Saint Lucy and its history—which dates way way back to when the island of Barbados was first formed via tectonic activity.
“It was basically tectonic plates that collided about a million years ago so the seabed is the top of the hill,” Braden said. “We’re on coral rock.”
As a result, Fustic Estate includes an extensive network of caves that were likely used by the Arawaks, a Venezuelan fishing tribe that followed the fish to these islands about a thousand years ago.
“If the fish were good they’d camp here,” Braden said. “There’s evidence that they stayed there in those caves, they lived there in good winters.”
Now it’s someone else’s turn to live on the land shared by Arawaks, the plantation owners of 1712, Charles Graves and the Braden brood.
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