BY AMADO MACASAET
[ Malaya.com.ph ] September 20, 2010
In the economic housing segment of the market which Ayala Land considers as the C Class, prices of units range from P600,000 to P1.25 million.
The bulk of the funds, if not nearly all of it, is sourced from Pag-IBIG. This means that under the company’s Amaia brand of housing, the company selects borrowers who get loans from Pag-IBIG.
In turn, Amaia builds homes for the borrowers.
In the medium cost or B Class, under the Avida brand of Ayala Land, officials said this market is better served by banks.
Pag-IBIG charges at least 7 percent interest on the money it lends members for a term that is as long as 25 to 30 years.
Under Ayala’s Avida brand or medium cost segment, prices vary from a minimum of P1.25 million to a high of P4 million.
Borrowers are given a repayment period of 20 years. The interest rate is fixed for the first five years.
This is a clear advantage to the borrowers, considering that the present lending rate of banks is around 8 to 8.5 percent.
It is presumed that after five years, interest rate will vary according to the levels obtaining in the market.
In an earlier story about how Ayala Land taps the low-end or C market, it was reported that it is impossible for socialized housing to catch up with the backlog considering the high birth rate of about two million babies yearly.
The statement was attributed to Ricky Celis, assistant vice president of Ayala Land. Jorge Miguel T. Marco, head of corporate communications of Ayala Land, replied "we did not talk about birth rates."
Marco also said that contrary to previous reports, Phinma, Eton Properties, Empire East, are also in economic housing, not in socialized segment.
The starting difference between economic housing and socialized housing is P200,000. Economic housing starts at P600,000. On the other hand, socialized housing starts at P400,000 to as high as P1.2 million.
Amaia, the low-end brand of Ayala Land’s housing brand, is not involved in socialized housing, according to the explanation of Marco.
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