CENTRAL Visayas topped the regions in southern Philippines with a bigger share of the residential property loans granted by banks in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Based on a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) report released Tuesday, March 31, 2020, Region 7 accounted for about 6.6 percent of real estate loans granted nationwide.

The National Capital Region accounted for 48 percent of the total.

Loans granted in provincial areas were used to buy single detached and attached houses.

During the period, about 73.9 percent of real estate loans nationwide were spent for new housing units. Majority of residential property loans were used to buy condominium units (52.1 percent), followed by single detached/attached houses (38.8 percent) and townhouses (8.6 percent).

The BSP noted that nationwide residential property prices grew by 10.2 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2019.

This was the second consecutive quarter that the index has registered a double-digit growth, but was slightly lower than the 10.4 percent growth in the third quarter.

In provincial areas, price growth was registered in all types of housing units. (CSL)