Home loan releases of Pag-IBIG Fund posted double-digit growth for the 4th consecutive year with the agency setting new record-highs in housing accomplishments in 2019.
According to top executives, home loans released by Pag-IBIG Fund amounted to P 86.74 billion last year, which is the highest amount ever released under the agency’s housing loan program. The amount released increased by 15% or P11.43 billion compared to the P75.31 billion released in 2018. Members who benefitted from the loan program also increased to 95,276 from the 90,375 who borrowed last year.
"We have again set a new record-high and achieved a new milestone in our home loan releases in 2019. We are also happy because the number of members who achieved their dream of owning a home through Pag-IBIG Fund also grew last year. We look forward to setting new records and milestones in our pursuit of providing decent and affordable home financing to even more Filipino workers this 2020. This is our commitment as one of the key players in President Rodrigo Roa Duterte's drive to uplift the lives of Filipino families," said Eduardo D. del Rosario, Chairperson of the 11-member Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees and Secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Del Rosario added that out of the total amount, P10.64 billion were released as socialized home loans for the benefit of 27,145 Pag-IBIG Fund members belonging to the minimum wage and low-income sectors.
Meanwhile, Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti said that the growth of the agency’s housing operations has been remarkable, especially in recent years.
“Before, our home loan releases for the whole year never went above P50 billion. It took us 36 years to break that barrier when we released P57.31 billion in 2016. We challenged ourselves to do even better, which resulted to us breaking records each year after that. In fact, our home loan releases have been steadily growing at a double-digit pace for four consecutive years now. We are confident that demand for our home loans will continue and we expect our home loan releases to breach the P90 billion-barrier this year,” Moti said.
He added that the continued demand for the agency’s home loans can be attributed to its lowest-ever interest rates, high loan-to-appraisal ratio, long repayment period, and much-improved insurance terms.
In total, Pag-IBIG Fund approved P109.04 billion in home loans to finance the acquisition of 113,574 homes. Of this, the amount of P22.3 billion represents approved home loan applications pending for takeout, the proceeds of which are ready for disbursement upon submission by borrowers of post-approval requirements.