Housing demand robust despite higher prices

MACTAN, Cebu—Housing prices jumped by almost a tenth in the first quarter compared with costs a year ago but demand for residential real estate remained robust given a growing economy, the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data showed.

Based on the BSP’s newly launched indicator called residential real estate price indices (RREPI), real property prices rose 9.2 percent in the first three months of 2016, faster than the 5.1 percent a quarter ago. RREPI “measures the average changes in prices of different types of housing units over a period of time across different geographical regions where the growth rate of the index measures house inflation,” the BSP said in a statement.

The quarterly RREPI showed that in the National Capital Region, real property prices grew by 9.7 percent and while those outside NCR, the increase was 9.4 percent.

Nationwide, condominium units posted the biggest jump in prices of 12.9 percent, while those of townhouses rose by 8.5 percent.

RREPI also showed that seven out of every 10 residential real estate loans approved by banks during the first quarter were to be spent on buying new housing units.

In NCR, condominium units were the most popular purchases; in areas outside Metro Manila, single detached houses were the most sought after, RREPI showed.

NCR was also the location where banks granted half of the residential real estate loans approved in the first three months of this year; Calabarzon accounted for 28.4 percent; Central Luzon, 7.6 percent; Western Visayas, 3.8 percent, and Central Visayas, 3.3 percent.

The RREPI data “represented a vibrant housing industry in the Philippines,” BSP Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo told reporters Friday night.

According to Guinigundo, “asset price inflation is quite remote” in the country because real estate purchases were being “driven by demand, not oversupply.”

Separately, BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters Saturday that there remains no property bubble in the country, although monetary authorities continue to monitor property prices. Ben O. de Vera