Real estate sellers and buyers and heirs will pay a bigger amount of taxes starting this year in Muntinlupa City, home to swanky subdivisions such as Ayala Alabang and Palms Pointe, as well as the Filinvest City central business district (CBD) and Madrigal Business Park.

Zonal values in Muntinlupa rose 14 to 100% effective Jan. 27, or four-and-a-half years after the eighth revision of the schedule of zonal values. 

But most areas registered increases of between 20 and 40% over the values that were in effect from July 11, 2019, to Jan. 26, 2024.

The zonal values have been increasing much faster than incomes do, further putting housing beyond the reach of many Filipinos.

The increases are expected to further push up prices of real estate, as sellers often use zonal values as the floor price.

Biggest increase

The biggest aggregate increase for residential land is in Palms Pointe, an “exclusive seven-hectare gated community’’ in the 244-hectare Filinvest City CBD. Its zonal value rose P50,000 per square meter (sqm) to P150,000 per sqm.

The increase gives Palms Pointe, which is just across from The Palms Country Club, the distinction of having a zonal value higher than that in most parts of the adjacent Ayala Alabang Village.

Ayala Alabang  boasts not only a country club but also a golf course and has been touted by its developer as “the most sought-after residential address’’ in southern Metro Manila. 

The zonal value of lots in 23 phases of Ayala Alabang (from 1, 2A and 2B to 11C and 12) rose P35,000 to P135,000 per sqm.

Highest, lowest values

Residential lots commanding the highest value in the city at P180,000 per sqm are on Acacia, Madrigal and Mindanao Avenues of Ayala Alabang, a 6.9-square kilometer (sq. km.) community that is a barangay unto itself. 

The lowest zonal value at P8,000 per sqm is aptly in low-lying and flood-prone areas of the Taguig-Muntinlupa (TM) Road beside Laguna Lake in Barangays Sucat, Buli, Cupang, Bayanan, Putatan and Poblacion, and on Buendia Street (also lakeside) in Barangay Tunasan.

Muntinlupa has a land area of 39.75 sq. km.  and is easily accessible as it is linked to other cities in the metropolis and adjacent provinces by the Skyway, South Luzon Expressway, Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, Alabang-Zapote Road and Daang Hari.

It is bounded to the north by Taguig, to the northwest by Parañaque, to the west by Las Piñas, to the east by Laguna Lake, to the southwest by Bacoor, Cavite, and to the south by San Pedro, Laguna. 

For land classified as commercial, those with the highest value are located at Alabang Town Center, Madrigal Business Park, Molito Commercial Complex—all in Barangay Ayala Alabang—and Filinvest City in Barangay Alabang.

Commercial land in these areas is valued at P313,000 per sqm, up 25%.

Taxes

The tax on the sale and transfer of real property is based on the zonal value, fair market value set by the Assessor’s Office, or the declared selling price, whichever is higher. 

The higher the value, the bigger the amount that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collects.

For some time now, the zonal values of land in the city have been much higher than the fair market values set by the Assessor’s Office for real property tax purposes.

A seller pays a capital gains tax equivalent to 6% of the value of the property. 

Buyers usually pay the documentary stamp tax (DST), which is 1.5% of the property value. 

Heirs must pay the estate tax—also 6% of the value of the land, house or condominium they inherited—so they can transfer the title to the property to their names. 

The estate tax amnesty that has been extended to June 14, 2025, covers only those who died on or before May 31, 2022.

Alabang Hills

Other posh subdivisions—Alabang Hills, Pacific Village and Hillsborough—saw a 30% increase (P15,000 per sqm) in zonal values to P65,000. 

The zonal value of residential land in Alabang 400 Village is now P60,000 per sqm, and Tierra Nueva and Brittany Bay, P50, 000.

It is P45,000 per sqm in La Posada; P42,000 in BF Homes Phase 6; P40,000 in San Jose Village; P35, 000 in Posadas Village; and P30,000 in both Brazilia Heights and Lindenwood Residences.

Katarungan Village

In Katarungan Village 1 (Phase 2), the zonal value is P30,000 per sqm, higher than Phase 1’s P25,000 and Village 2’s P15,000.

The zonal value in Katarungan Village 1 is higher than the P20,000 per sqm in Camella Homes 1, 2, 2D and 2E. 

The 104-hectare Katarungan was carved out of the sprawling land of the national penitentiary, or the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), to serve as housing for employees of the Department of Justice and its agencies.

Property values there have skyrocketed because it is easily accessible via Daang Hari and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway. It is adjacent to Ayala Alabang.

The government has planned to transfer the NBP elsewhere and to sell the 5,206 hectares occupied by the prison. Should the plan push through, property values in Katarungan Village will surely shoot up.

100% increase

Interestingly, the biggest increase, percentagewise, is that for a flood-prone area in Barangay Alabang. The value of residential land on Taguig-Muntinlupa Road (beside Laguna Lake) rose 100% to P10,000.

Areas that saw a 67% increase include Liberty Homes (East Service Road) and Agro Homes (near the national road and city hall). Each has a zonal value of P25,000 per sqm, and Country Homes 2 (vicinity of Camella Homes 4), P20,000.

The lowest increase at 14% is in Phase 1 of Katarungan Village 1: from P22,000 to P25,000. 

Land in communities populated mostly by informal settlers—Bagong Sibol, Pasong Makipot and Patdu Compound—went up 25% to P10,000 per sqm. 

The communities are adjacent to South Greenheights, Camella 2 and Soldiers Hills Village in Barangay Putatan. (The BIR says that Pasong Makipot is in the vicinity of the Muntinlupa-Cavite boundary.)

Condos, parking slots

The new zonal values also apply to condominiums, parking slots, cemetery lots, and institutional and industrial land. 

The BIR is mandated to revise the schedule of zonal values every three years but must hold a public hearing and publish the revised schedule in a newspaper of general circulation.