THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (Dhsud) and the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) have signed the joint declaration on the adjustment of the price ceiling for economic housing from P1.7 million to P2.5 million.
The agreement was welcomed by the private sector, pointing out that the adjustment in the price ceiling aligned with the inflation costs for all the inputs to production due to political and economic headwinds around the globe.
In a statement, George Siy, chairman of the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA), the country’s leading organization of housing developers, said the housing sector is an economic pump-primer as it contributes a 3.4 percent output multiplier to the economy and creates indirect employment generated by backroom support, marketing, and salespeople involved in housing activities.
“Like all the other sectors, the housing industry is likewise affected by the increases in prices of all inputs to production, but due to price controls, much of production at the socialized level has been unprofitable, and production has been discouraged. This is why the price ceiling adjustment, due some years ago, is needed to encourage housing production for our countrymen,” he said.
Last June 10, the DHSUD also issued Department Order 2022-03 to enforce the price adjustment to new projects that will be launched. Meanwhile, the new price ceiling will be applied to unsold and yet unconstructed economic housing units for projects with existing licenses to sell.
Siy also said that together with other housing groups, they had been meeting and working with the government, Dhsud, and Neda in the determination of the adjustments in the price ceiling for socialized housing, after the adjustments were made on economic housing.
This takes into consideration increases in the last four years in costs of inputs, as well as income and affordability of the population, especially those that belong to the lower 30 percent of the population.