Residential property prices up in Q2

Average prices of residential property around the country rose in the second quarter of the year, driven by demand for condominium units and townhouses, according to the latest report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

In a statement, the central bank said residential property prices rose by 4.8 percent year-on-year in April to June of 2018 as the residential real estate price index rose to 117.2 from 111.8 a year ago.

Year-on-year, prices of townhouses, condominium units and single detached housing units grew by 13.3 percent, 9.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, prices of duplex units—which account for only 0.36 percent of total new housing units reported—fell by 4.4 percent year-on-year.

Quarter-on-quarter, the price index edged higher by 0.8 percent. This index measures the average change in the prices of various types of housing units based on data from housing loans granted by universal, commercial and thrift banks.

The average residential property prices in both the national capital region and provincial areas climbed by 5.1 percent and 4.1 percent compared to year-ago prices, respectively.

In the Metro Manila area, the growth in the prices of condominium units and townhouses outweighed the decline in prices of single detached houses and duplexes. Meanwhile, all types of housing units in provincial areas registered price increases.

For the second quarter, 77.1 percent of residential real estate loans were for the acquisition of new housing units.

By type of housing unit, 46.1 percent of residential property loans were for the purchase of condominium units, followed by single detached units (45.6 percent) and townhouses (7.8 percent).

By area, the majority of the residential property loans granted in the the national capital region were for the purchase of condominium units, while loans granted in the provinces were mainly for single detached houses.

By region, Metro Manila accounted for 45.2 percent of the total number of property loans granted during the quarter, followed by the Calabarzon region (27.9 percent), Central Luzon (6.9 percent), Central Visayas (5.9 percent), Western Visayas (5 percent), Davao Region (3.5 percent) and Northern Mindanao (1.7 percen t).

Together, Metro Manila and the six other regions accounted for 96.1 percent of total housing loans granted by banks.

The central bank requires all universal, commercial and thrift banks in the Philippines to submit a quarterly report on all residential real estate loans granted for the generation of the price index report.