RESIDENTIAL property prices may have picked up in the fourth quarter after the slump a quarter earlier, Colliers Philippines said.
“Similar to what we have seen previously, the fourth quarter is traditionally a strong quarter for residential take-up whether within or outside Metro Manila, whether it’s condominiums or horizontal,” Joey Roi H. Bondoc, director and head of research at Colliers Philippines, told BusinessWorld by telephone.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Residential Property Price Index indicated that housing prices nationwide posted its weakest growth ever in the third quarter at 1.9%.
This was a sharp slowdown from the 7.5% growth posted in the three months to June and the year-earlier 7.6%.
The BSP also reported that lower real estate investment brought banks and trust entities’ real estate exposure down to 19.54% at the end of September from 19.61% at the end of June and 19.55% a year earlier.
Real estate loans climbed 8.9% year on year to P3.096 trillion at the end of September, but real estate investment slipped 5.75% to P354.749 billion.
Mr. Bondoc said yearend bonuses and inflows of remittances from overseas Filipino workers could have spurred demand for residential property in the fourth quarter.
He also noted that the peso’s recent weakness may prompt migrants, especially those from North America, to send more money home.
The peso has been trading between P58 to P59 to the dollar since October, hitting a fresh record low of P59.22 on Dec. 9.
However, Mr. Bondoc said elevated mortgage rates may still continue to dampen housing price growth in the near term, but any potential rate reduction could help property take up and price growth by this quarter next year.
“I think we need to watch out for the… possible reduction in mortgage rates, given that there has been a substantial decline in basic policy rates by the central bank,” he added. “And if that happens, that will provide a better impetus for a spike in residential demand, and therefore residential prices, starting (in the) first quarter of 2026.”
The BSP ended the year with a fifth straight 25 basis-point (bp) cut on Dec. 11, bringing its total reductions on key borrowing costs to 200 bps since August 2024. The benchmark policy rate is currently at an over three-year low of 4.5%.
Mr. Bondoc said lowering the mortgage rate between 6% and 6.5% from the current 7.8% could help the property industry by raising confidence among buyers.
“But the concern is that they have not been lowering their mortgage rates,” he added. “If they start doing that next year, 2026, I think (that will be) a very good sign that demand and then prices might recover faster because of this lower mortgage rate.” — Katherine K. Chan