Posted on 03:58 PM, September 10, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
HOUSING LOANS extended by the Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-IBIG Fund declined by 3.5% in the seven months to July.
Emma Linda B. Faria, Pag-IBIG officer-in-charge, said in a text message on Thursday night that P24.427 billion worth of housing loans covering 37,883 housing units were released as of end-July, down from P25.306 billion for 42,130 housing units a year earlier.
Wennie B. Jaudian, manager at Pag-IBIG's corporate planning department, said the major reason for the decline was the on-going computerization at the Land Registration Authority (LRA), which caused delays in the issuance of transfer certificates of title and annotation of loan documents.
"The computerization has affected all transactions that involve titles, for example, ownership transfers, mortgage annotations, among others," he said in a separate text message on Friday.
The Pag-IBIG is looking at releasing P50 billion in housing loans this year.
Asked if the goal is achievable Mr. Jaudian said: "We are still hopeful we can reach our target."
He said P9.425 billion in loans covering 13,947 applications was set for release of of end-July. Meanwhile, 9,440 applications for a total of P8.681 billion in housing loans are in various stages of evaluation.
The Pag-IBIG, which is mandated to provide affordable housing finance to its members, issued P45.7 billion in housing loans last year. -- Louella D. Desiderio
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