HGC, banks, builders launch housing program

State-owned Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) seeks to make it easier for homebuyers to look for houses and seek mortgage financing with the rollout of an online platform that links the housing finance cycle.

HGC’s Bankers-Builders-Buyers (BBB) program—which has so far brought in 14 banks and nine property developers as partners—aims to simplify the process of home ownership.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, the government’s housing czar, said this BBB program was also dedicated to overseas Filipino workers who could use this platform to immediately initiate transaction “with a few clicks” on the computer and choose a house according to their budget.

“We’re trying to create a full circle,” said HGC president Manuel Sanchez, adding this was a way of mobilizing private sector financing for the housing sector.

In an interview, Sanchez said that with this platform, prospective buyers can easily scout for housing products and financing arrangements. “Usually buyers don’t know where to start—how to apply for mortgage or basically how to buy a house,” Sanchez said.

The BBB program, which is linked to HGC’s website, contains a list of partner-banks and provides the application form, the requirements and terms of mortgage. It also contains the specifications of housing units for sale.

“For example, if you want to buy a house in Cagayan de Oro, you can tailor-fit how much monthly payments you can afford,” Sanchez said.

HGC to date has P68 billion worth of mortgage guarantees extended to housing loans. It has a capitalization of P50 billion, which Sanchez said could be multiplied by 20 times to estimate the state-owned agency’s guarantee capacity.

A guarantee cover provided by the HGC means that the housing loan amount covered is not required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to be matched by lender-banks with counterpart cash collateral, thus freeing up more liquidity for other loans.