By Ted P. Torres Updated November 30, 2008 12:00 AM
[ philstar.com ]
The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) has lent out P19 billion to the property sector, with P13.9 billion going to the commercial sector and P5.1 billion for socialized and low-cost housing, as of September this year, its top executive said.
DBP president and chief executive Reynaldo David said the state-run financial institution plans to make available more funds as it has adopted a two-pronged approach for the housing sector.
He said they will increase the capacity of local government units (LGUs) to deliver housing services and tap microfinance institutions (MFIs) to deliver services to the informal sector.
Speaking before the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association (CREBA) recently, David said the Philippines needs a total of 3.75 million housing units by 2010, based on the 2004-2010 Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP).
In 2007, DBP’s market share in lending to the real estate industry stood at merely 8.1 percent, or roughly P17.5 billion of the industry’s P217.28 billion loans.
By September this year, its share fell to 5.8 percent, or P13.98 billion of industry’s P240.1 billion.
According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the major banks supporting the real estate industry are Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), China Banking Corp. and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank).
To help ease the housing backlog and its related problems, DBP has prioritized support for projects involving the delivery of shelter services.
It has a wholesale, low-cost housing program for subdivision development loans, with amounts up to P3 million, while its social housing program offers loan amounts up to P300,000.
A program called the Development of Poor Urban Communities Sector Project (DPUCSP) funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provides decent and affordable shelter to marginalized sectors of society. It also addresses the continuing problem of informal settlements.
DBP is also involved in major commercial real estate development projects, commercial buildings for business process outsourcing (BPO), office and residential condominium projects.
David also said that the government financial institution wants to partner with both private and government entities.
Recently, DBP extended a term loan agreement for a mass housing project with the Provincial Capital of Cavite and R-II Builders. The land development and socialized housing project will benefit 6,000 families in the province of Cavite.
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