Cities with the most number of foreclosed, ergo affordable, houses

Real estate website Lamudi Philippines released to the media April 27 the 10 cities which have the most number of listed foreclosed houses in its site.

In terms of prices, San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan offers the most affordable foreclosed houses among the top 10 cities, while Quezon City offers the priciest.

Topping the list of the most number of foreclosed properties and the average prices in these cities, from Jan. 1 to March 31 this year is San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, which offers the most affordable price range, averaging P336,000. The number of houses in the list is 1,046. This was followed by Dasmariñas (Cavite) at P686,000 with 635 houses. Third was San Mateo, a first-class urban municipality, in Rizal province, averaging P503,000 with 487 houses on the list.

Fourth was Bacoor (Cavite) with an average price of P1.67 million with its 320 foreclosed houses. Fifth was Santa Rosa (Laguna) at an average of P1.08 million on its 253 houses. Sixth was Antipolo (Rizal) at an average of P2.45 million for its 225 houses and lots. Next was Imus (Cavite), averaging P1.45 million with 221 on its list, then Caloocan (Metro Manila) at P1.54 million with 171 houses on the list. San Pedro (Laguna) was 9th, averaging P1.49 million with 147 houses, and Quezon City (Metro Manila) averaging P5.33 million with 145 houses.

Caloocan and Quezon City were cited as the only Metro Manila cities that made it to the Top 10. Together, these cities comprised 51 percent of all foreclosed houses listed in the said website.

“In case homebuyers are wondering where they can get affordable houses, cities in Bulacan, Laguna, and Rizal, right on the fringes of Metro Manila, offer them the most viable options, as these areas are teeming with foreclosed properties,” said Lamudi in a statement.

More than 6 percent of all searches for foreclosed properties conducted during the period involved Metro Manila’s largest city. Quezon City was followed by the cities of Las Piñas, Parañaque and San Jose del Monte, the provinces of Benguet and Laguna, and then by Caloocan. Together, these areas captured almost 20 percent of total search volume for foreclosed properties in the Lamudi website.

As of press time, there are 19,500 foreclosed properties listed on Lamudi, ranging from houses and condos to parking spaces and residential lots.

Pros and cons

Enrique M. Soriano III, Ateneo program director for real estate and senior adviser for Wong+Bernstein Business, said these assets are good options to consider when planning to buy real estate for personal use or investment.

Soriano said that theoretically these are ideal for bargain purchasing as seller or lender wants to clear or unload fast his or her portfolio of foreclosed assets.

“But in reality, you have to do your homework of validating the valuation as seller or lender by default have added so many variables such as foreclosure proceeding costs, litigation costs, carrying costs, maintenance, etc., if any,” he said.

Soriano said: “Southern fringes are naturally prone to higher default payment rates because of the overseas market. Those who lost employment abroad and defaulted in multiples of a few hundreds were the first to let go of their homes. Second, the south have had an explosion of mass housing developments, especially in the Calabarzon (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) area. Third, a shift in homebuyer preference. The past 10 years, (we) have seen the shift from house and lot to vertical developments.”

Lamudi said in a statement that “foreclosed properties may not be on most people’s game plan when buying their first property, perhaps because of pity or because they feel they are taking advantage of others’ misfortunes. Filipino homebuyers may hesitate to buy foreclosed houses.”

The website cited Ramil Arquileta, CEO of My Saving Grace Realty and Development Corp. (a firm that specializes in foreclosed properties), who said that foreclosed properties offer homebuyers the best affordable option so they can finally afford a home.

Arquileta advises would-be buyers of foreclosed properties to buy only from banks and their accredited brokers/brokerages to minimize the risk of ending up with a problematic property.