Real estate giant Ayala Land Inc. expects 2010 to be a banner year with sales in the first two months of the year exceeding targets and even surpassing sales for the entire 2009 on the back of new project launches and a recovery in the market.

ALI senior vice president and sales and marketing head Rex Mendoza said that for Ayala Land Premier, the firm’s high-end brand, sales have already reached P5.3 billion for January and February, compared to P5 billion for the entire 2009.

He added that this trend is seen across all Ayala brands such as Alveo and Avida noting that “there are no laggards, all have exceeded targets.”

ALI is aiming to sell a total of 9,200 units for all brands this year, three times the 3,000 units sold in 2009. In terms of value of sales, Mendoza said they are aiming for a 78 percent growth.

The firm is currently intensifying its marketing efforts overseas as overseas Filipinos’ share in ALI’s revenues is slowly improving as the firm focuses more on the Middle East and Europe instead of the United States.

Mendoza said overseas sales accounted for 33 percent of sales in 2007 but fell to 18 percent in 2008. Last year it began to recover and reached around 28 percent of total sales while it is expected to hit 28 to 30 percent this year.

ALI is seeing strong sales from Filipinos in Saudi Arabia as well as Abu Dhabi although sales from the US is also starting to recover.

Meanwhile, Mendoza said ALI is currently negotiating for the development of 300 hectares of land for the expansion of its highly successful leisure project, the Anvaya Cove in Bataan.

Mendoza said the land is owned by Sudeco which is also ALI’s partner, as the land owner, of the original 330-hectare Anvaya Cove.

He added that the expansion will cost the firm another P3.5 billion, which ALI is planning to spend for the entire Anvaya Cove. Mendoza said that about P1.5 billion to P2 billion has already been spent in the last three years.

Anvaya development cost could reach around P10 billion. For existing projects, ALI has already commited to spend P4 billion.

ALI is looking to offer more lots for sale due to the high demand for homes in Anvaya Cove. Mendoza said there are only 25 lots remaining from the 546 lots released to the market.