PH housing prices spike in Q2

Nationwide housing prices jumped double-digits in the second quarter and outpaced the first-quarter increase as residential property prices accelerated outside Metro Manila, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported Friday.

The second-quarter residential real estate price index (RREPI), which measures the average changes in prices of all types of housing units across the country, increased to 122.8 from 115.9 in the first quarter and 110.3 a year ago, the highest thus far since the index measured real estate prices in the second quarter of 2015.

The growth rate of the index measures house price inflation, the BSP explained.

In the second quarter, the average price of housing units in the country climbed 11.3 percent year-on-year from 9.4 percent in the previous quarter, primarily as prices of single detached/attached houses grew 18.6 percent year-on-year, almost more than double the 7.7-percent rise a quarter ago.

Prices of townhouses increased 14.7 percent year-on-year, faster than 7.6 percent in the first quarter.

But duplex prices rose at a slower 0.6 percent year-on-year during the April to June period compared with the 10.4-percent increase from January to March.

Prices of condominium units, meanwhile, contracted 0.1 percent in the second quarter, reversing the 13.4-percent jump during the preceding quarter.

In Metro Manila, the average price of housing units rose 2.7 percent year-on-year, slower than the first quarter’s 10-percent increase.

Prices of single detached/attached houses and townhouses within the National Capital Region (NCR) rose 13.8 percent and 9.2 percent year-on-year, respectively, whereas the cost to buy a duplex and a condominium unit dropped 22.5 and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Outside Metro Manila, housing prices soared 18.4 percent in the second quarter, up from the previous quarter’s 9 percent.

Units sold in areas outside NCR during the second half registered year-on-year increases: single detached/attached house, up 19.3 percent; duplex, up 24.7 percent; townhouse, up 24.3 percent; and condominium unit, up 0.1 percent.

As for residential real estate loans recorded between April and June, the BSP said in a statement that seven out of every 10 loans were for purchases of new houses.

Half of residential property loans were for single detached, followed by condominiums (41.2 percent) and townhouses (8.4 percent).