Prices of new housing units rose in the fourth quarter of 2021 from a year ago on sustained demand for residential property, particularly for townhouses and condominium units, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
The BSP said in its Residential Real Estate Price Index report the growth trend was sustained in the fourth quarter of 2021, with prices rising 4.9 percent from a year ago and 1.1 percent from the third quarter.
“This is consistent with the outcome of the Q4 2021 Consumer Expectations Survey, which showed a higher percentage of consumers preferring to buy real estate property during the last quarter of 2021,” the BSP said.
Residential property prices in the National Capital Region went up by 5 percent year-on-year, although this was slower than 11.4-percent registered in the third quarter. Property prices in areas outside NCR went up by 5.1 percent year-on-year.
“Prices in both areas were driven mainly by the rise in the prices of condominium units and townhouses, which more than offset the decline in the prices of duplex housing units and single-detached/attached houses,” the BSP said.
The 4.9 percent year-on-year upturn in the nationwide price index was driven by the rise in prices of townhouses and condominium units, with a growth of 22.6 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, prices of duplex housing units and single-detached/attached houses softened by 10.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
The BSP said the number of residential real estate loans granted for all types of new housing units in the fourth quarter declined by 11.5 percent year-on-year, but expanded by 2 percent quarter-on-quarter. The same pattern was observed in the provinces.
The weight of each type of housing unit in the RREPI is determined by dividing the total floor area in terms of square meters of a specific type of housing unit over the total floor area of all housing types.
Data showed that in the fourth quarter, single-detached/attached houses in the price index continued to constitute the largest weight at 51 percent. Condominium units, townhouses and duplex housing units accounted for 27.5 percent, 21 percent, and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Almost 73.5 percent of residential real estate loans were used to purchase of new housing units. By type of housing unit, most of the residential property loans were used for the acquisition of condominium units (44.6 percent), followed by single-detached/attached houses (39.3 percent) and townhouses (15.6 percent).
Most of the loans granted in the NCR were for the purchase of condominium units, while loans granted in the provinces were for the purchase of single-detached/attached houses.
By region, 40.1 percent of the total number of loans granted came from the NCR, while the rest were distributed in other areas―CALABARZON (27.9 percent), Central Luzon (12 percent), Central Visayas (4.7 percent), Western Visayas (4.4 percent), Davao Region (4 percent), and Northern Mindanao (1.6 percent).
NCR and the other six regions accounted for 94.7 percent of total housing loans granted by banks.
The Residential Real Estate Price Index is a measure of the average change in the prices of various types of housing units based on banks’ data on actual mortgage loans granted to acquire new housing units only.