Residential property prices up in Q4

RESIDENTIAL real estate prices slightly rose by 0.5 percent yearon-year (y-o-y) in the fourth quarter of 2018, as the Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI) increased to 118.0 from 117.4 for the same quarter a year ago.

Year-on-year prices of townhouses and condominium units grew by 11.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, prices of single detached housing units declined by 1.9 percent.

Likewise, prices of duplex units (which account for only 0.37 percent of total new housing units reported) also decreased by 3.7 percent y-o-y.

Quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q), the RREPI rose by 1.3 percent. For the full year 2018, residential property prices, on average, grew by 2.9 percent compared to the previous year.

The RREPI measures the average change in the prices of various types of housing units, which are comprised of single detached houses, duplexes, townhouses and condominium units, based on data from housing loans granted by universal, commercial and thrift banks.

By area, the average residential property prices in the National Capital Region (NCR) increased by 1.6 percent y-o-y, while those of outside of NCR declined by 0.8 percent.

In NCR, the rise in prices of single detached houses and townhouses more than offset the decline in prices of duplexes and steady prices of condominium units. Outside NCR, the decline in prices of single detached houses outweighed the increase in prices of duplexes, townhouses and condominium units.

About 75 percent of residential real estate loans were for the acquisition of new housing units. By type, 50.4 percent of loans were for the purchase of condominium units, followed by single detached units (39.8 percent) and townhouses (9.3 percent). /