Banks’ real estate loans hit P1.3T

Bank lending to real estate jumped to a record P1.318 trillion at the end of the first three months amid a sustained property boom.

This was higher than the P1.276 trillion a quarter ago and P1.084 trillion a year ago, the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data showed.

The bulk or P994.85 billion was borrowed for commercial projects, of which P528.87 billion were loans to construction firms and land developers.

Of the amount borrowed by construction companies and property developers, P193.38 billion went to residential projects.

Big banks had also approved P322.9 billion in loans for consumers’ residential units, of which P71.56 billion were intended for low-cost and socialized housing.

In April, the BSP reported that the year-on-year increase in average housing prices nationwide further eased to 0.3 percent as residential real estate prices in Metro Manila sustained its decline for the second straight quarter.

The BSP’s latest residential real estate price index or RREPI, which measures the average changes in prices of all types of housing units across the country, was at 113.9 during the October to December period, almost the same as the 113.4 in the third quarter of 2016 and 113.6 during the fourth quarter of 2015.