Residential property prices rose 5.7% in final quarter of 2017 – BSP

With growth in residential property loans in the last quarter of 2017, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) monitored an increase in its Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI) to 117.4 from 111.1 same period in 2016, with housing prices rising by 5.7 percent year-on-year.

The BSP, which carefully assesses property price changes as an early warning signal to avoid formation of asset bubbles, said prices of townhouses and particularly condominium units grew faster in 2017 than in 2016.

Prices of townhouses in the last quarter of 2017 went up to 8.1 percent from 6.4 percent in 2016, and condominium units increased to 14.2 percent from 3.6 percent.

Prices of single-detached housing units, in the meantime, registered a drop of 0.3 percent compared to a growth of 4.3 percent same time in 2016.

The RREPI measures the average change in prices of various types of housing units such as single detached/ attached house, duplex, townhouse, and condominium unit, based on banks’ housing loans. Quarter-on-quarter, the RREPI was higher by 5.2 percent, and by 3.6 percent on a year-on-year basis.

The BSP said the average residential property prices in both the National Capital Region (NCR) and areas outside of the NCR increased by 8.8 percent three percent year-on-year. “In NCR, the higher growth in prices of condominium units and duplexes offset the decline in prices of single detached houses and townhouses. In areas outside NCR, prices of all types of housing units increased.”

About 80 percent or eight in 10 residential property loans were purchased as new housing units.

“By type of housing unit, 52.8 percent of residential property loans were for the acquisition of condominium units, followed by single detached units (39.5 percent) and townhouses (7.3 percent),” according to the BSP.

By area, condominium units were the most common house purchases in NCR while single detached houses were prevalent in areas outside NCR.

The central bank reported that by region, the NCR had a 52.6 percent share of the total number of residential real estate loans during the fourth quarter period.

CALABARZON, Central Luzon and Central Visayas accounted for 23.6 percent, 6.4 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively.

Western Visayas also had 4.7 percent of the total, with Davao Region at 2.8 percent, and Northern Mindanao at 1.6 percent. “Together, these seven regions accounted for 96.4 percent of total housing loans granted by banks,” said the BSP.