Housing prices declining in areas outside Metro Manila

Average housing prices nationwide declined 4.6 percent year-on-year in the second quarter as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas noted that real estate costs outside Metro Manila were declining.

The BSP’s latest residential real estate price index (RREPI), which measures the average changes in prices of all types of housing units across the country, dropped to 116.6 during the April-to-June period from 122.2 a year ago and 116.7 a quarter ago.

“Year-on-year, prices of condominium units and townhouses grew faster at 5.1 percent and 2.9 percent compared to the previous quarter, respectively. However, prices of single detached housing units declined by 9.9 percent” during the second quarter, the BSP said in a statement.

While prices of housing units rose by an average of 2.5 percent year-on-year in the National Capital Region, the cost to buy property in areas outside the NCR slid by 8.2 percent, the BSP said.

“In NCR, the higher growth in prices of condominium units offset the decline in prices of single detached houses and townhouses,” the BSP explained.

Condo unit prices in Metro Manila rose 5.2 percent in the second quarter even as stand-alone houses and townhouses saw prices going down by 6.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

As for areas outside NCR, “the drop in prices of single-detached houses outweighed the increases in prices of condominium units and townhouses,” the BSP said.

Prices of single detached/attached housing units dropped 10.3 percent year-on-year outside Metro Manila while those of condo units and townhouses went up by 5.5 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.

The BSP said that 75.3 percent of the real estate loans recorded from April to June were for purchases of new houses.

According to the BSP, by type of housing unit, 45.3 percent of residential property loans were for the acquisition of single detached units, followed by condominium units (44.8 percent) and townhouses (9.6 percent).