Home developers on Thursday asked the government to make mortgage rates on socialized housing more affordable to address the huge backlog.
The Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. (CREBA) said that while the government raised the ceiling of socialized housing to P1.2 million under Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) project, the capability of many Filipino families to pay mortgages is not at par with the housing prices.
“This is one way to move forward, but the law needs more teeth, and there are some loose ends that should be tightened,” said CREBA president Noel Cariño at the sidelines of the group’s general membership meeting in Makati City.
He said while the 4PH program was designed to close the wide housing backlog in about five years, “the rate at which these programs are unravelling may not meet targets.”
The group said with less than 300,000 homes being built annually, it may take a longer period before the 6 million housing backlog is addressed.
CREBA also called for a review of the Comprehensive Integrated Shelter Finance Act (CISFA) to address homebuyers’ needs for affordable mortgages and interest rates.
CISFA is a secondary mortgage market that provides long-term and affordable house financing to qualified low-income earners.
Cariño said not all homebuyers could rely on private banks and loans from Pag-IBIG to build their homes.
He said many low-income earners were discouraged by the high interests of private banks.
Cariño said home developers are also burdened by the requirement that they allot 20 percent of their project cost for socialized housing.
“There are alternatives to this, but what we are seeking is for the government to incentivize the programs and refrain from making it punitive,” he said.
Developers that could not meet the compliance rate face penalties, he said.