Housing prices rose 0.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, driven by strong demand for townhouses and condominium units, a study by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas shows.
The BSP said in a statement the residential real estate price index increased to 118.0 in the fourth quarter from 117.4 for the same quarter a year ago.
“Year-on-year prices of townhouses and condominium units grew by 11.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, prices of single detached housing units declined by 1.9 percent,” it said.
Prices of duplex units which accounted for only 0.37 percent of total new housing units in the quarter also decreased by 3.7 percent from a year ago.
The BSP said that for the whole of 2018, residential property prices grew 2.9 percent from the previous year.
The RREPI measures the average change in the prices of various types of housing units, which are comprised of single detached houses, duplexes, townhouses and condominium units, based on data from housing loans granted by universal, commercial and thrift banks.
By area, the average residential property prices in the National Capital Region increased 1.6 percent, while those in the provinces declined by 0.8 percent. In NCR, the rise in prices of single detached houses and townhouses more than offset the decline in prices of duplexes and steady prices of condominium units.
Data showed that in areas outside the NCR, the decline in prices of single detached houses outweighed the increase in prices of duplexes, townhouses and condominium units.
The BSP said that in the fourth quarter of 2018, about 75 percent of residential real estate loans were for the acquisition of new housing units. By type of housing unit, 50.4 percent of residential property loans were for the purchase of condominium units, followed by single-detached units (39.8 percent) and townhouses (9.3 percent).
Most of the RRELs granted in the NCR were for the purchase of condominium units, while RRELs granted in other areas were for single detached houses.
NCR accounted for 49.5 percent of the total number of RRELs granted in the fourth quarter, followed by Calabarzon (24.2 percent), Central Luzon (7.4 percent), Central Visayas (5.5 percent), Western Visayas (4.2 percent), Davao Region (3 percent) and Northern Mindanao (2 percent).