Posted on February 11, 2016
08:56:00 PM [ bworldonline.com ]
PROPERTY DEVELOPERS are
scrambling to serve the demand for residential products serving the lower
segment of the market, but challenges remain to making home ownership more
affordable for Filipinos, real estate advisory firm Colliers Philippines said
in a briefing yesterday.
Julius M. Guevara, head of
advisory services at Colliers Philippines, said there has been a mismatch in
terms of actual demand from the end-user market compared to housing projects
developed over the past years.
“The demand is there. The
product, however, is still not there. It’s still quite expensive. A big portion
of housing backlog is those that could not afford housing,” Mr. Guevara said.
Application for licenses to
sell at the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board dropped 14% last year, with
the socialized housing segment one of the few bright spots, he said.
“The developers have
recognized this given the slowdown in the Metro Manila condominium
developments. They are going out there, looking for areas so they can sustain
their revenue growth,” Mr. Guevara said.
The number of sold
condominium units has been falling from the peak in 2012, dropping to 32,400
units last year from almost 40,000 in 2014, Mr. Guevara said.
“We are now approaching
more rational levels, but not all these households can afford housing,” he
said.
Key to addressing the
backlog is to “strike the ideal financing structure” for this sector, said Ieyo
de Guzman, executive director for investment services at Colliers Philippines.
“If you look at real
demand, it’s coming from [the lower segment of the market], the demand for that
is still unmet and I’m not so sure if in my lifetime if it will be met and the
reason for that is it is heavily dependent on financing and capability of
buyers,” Ms. de Guzman said.
Lower interest rates,
extended payment terms and relaxed financing requirements from the Home
Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, will allow more Filipinos to afford
homes, Mr. Guevara said.
“We still have a lot to do
a lot to increase the capability of those that could not afford housing… The
government should step in to help in similar to what other countries are
doing,” he said. -- Krista Angela M. Montealegre
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