8990 tops Pag-IBIG’s list of mass housing developers

Property firm 8990 Holdings is now the biggest housing developer backed by the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, as the state-owned housing lender tightened its loan take-out policy in the aftermath of the 2011 Globe Asiatique scandal.

The mass housing developer announced that, in the first six months of the year, Pag-IBIG’s loan takeout from its contract to sell (CTS) portfolio amounted to P1.13 billion equivalent to 1,335 accounts.

Of the top developers nationwide, 8990 came out on top of Pag-IBIG’s list with its P1.126-billion portfolio. Other top developers on the list were New Apec with P669 million, and Homemark with P569 million.

Pag-IBIG’s allocation for individual housing loans this year stands at P50 billion.

Under its housing loan program, Pag-IBIG took care of the property firm’s 4,968 accounts, equivalent to about P4 billion worth of CTS, from 8990’s various low-cost housing projects in Angeles, Lipa, Cebu, Iloilo and Davao cities. This represented 35 percent of 8990’s P11.5 billion CTS portfolio.

“We are glad to be back with the Fund,” said Januario Jesus Atencio, president and CEO of 8990 Holdings and its subsidiaries. “We look forward to Pag-IBIG’s new housing policies and lending programs, specially their G-to-G (government to government) arrangements with the LRA (Land Registration Authority) and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenues), and the creation of centralized housing hubs that will provide faster and more efficient housing loan services to Pag-IBIG members and developer-partners.”

In recent years, Pag-IBIG reassessed its loan takeout policy after a developer was accused of using the fund’s credit window to sell houses to fictitious borrowers.

Atencio said the P1-billion takeout of 8990’s CTS receivables through Pag-IBIG showed that the business model of the company was working.

“We hope that this allays whatever concerns the market has over our ability to effectively manage our receivables portfolio,” he said.