BSP requires details of home loans

Local banks have been ordered to submit more detailed reports on lending for the construction of new homes as part of regulatory efforts to heighten surveillance of the volatile real estate sector.

Information from these reports will form part of the new Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI) being developed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), rules published this week showed.

“The availability of data on property prices is one of the information gaps identified… following the global financial crisis,” the BSP said in a statement.

Reports should contain when each housing loan is granted, where the home being funded is being built, what kind of home is being built, and the home’s size. Banks also have to disclose the appraised value of homes per square meter, the number of bedrooms each home has, and the name of its property developer.

These rules will cover homes in Metro Manila, the BSP said.

Generating this data, the BSP said, is also part of the requirements under the Special Data Dissemination Standard for financial soundness set by the International Monetary Fund.

At the moment, the central bank relies mainly on data from private sector consultants. Data published by Colliers International show average land values in the Makati Central Business District have risen by more than 50 percent since the end of 2012.

The new rules were approved at the end of last month. Universal, commercial, and thrift banks, which are all the types of lenders allowed to finance housing, will be required to submit quarterly reports to the BSP.

The construction of RREPI based on banks’ approved housing loan applications is a first in the Philippines and is “expected to provide a valuable tool in assessing the real estate and credit market conditions in the country.”