STARTING this year, state-run Home Mutual Development Fund (Pag-IBIG) targets to finance at least 100,000 housing units per year, following the high home loan take-up logged in 2017.
Pag-IBIG Fund approved P81.8 billion in housing loans last year, which financed 98,311 homes. Of the amount approved, P65.1 billion was released to benefit 80,964 members.
Over 30 percent or 24,705 member-borrowers availed themselves of socialized housing worth P8.9 billion.
Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy Moti is confident more Filipinos can secure home loans with Pag-IBIG, especially that they have further slashed interest rates, making owning a home more affordable and accessible.
Pag-IBIG Fund Visayas is targeting to release P11 billion worth of home loans this year, on the back of the agency’s easy financing schemes.
For the Cebu hub, which covers Cebu, Tacloban and Negros Oriental, the agency aims to release P6.6 billion in home loans, while target home loan takeout for the Bacolod hub (which covers Iloilo and Negros Occidental) is pegged at P4.4 billion.
The agency announced it has lowered its rates to three percent per annum from the previous 4.5 percent per annum under the affordable housing program (AHP) for the first five years of loans up to P450,000 over a maximum 30-year repayment period.
Pag-IBIG Fund said monthly amortizations for loans worth P450,000 will amount to only P1,897.22 from the previous P2,280. It noted that total monthly amortization was reduced by almost five percent due also to other reforms like lower fire and allied perils insurance premiums.
Moti said that the affordable housing program was created especially for the unserved and underserved sectors.
“With Pag-IBIG Fund’s annual tax savings, we have enough funds to subsidize the low rates under the AHP, which is designed primarily for low-income and minimum-wage earners,” said Moti, adding that these are the members earning not more than P15,000 a month in National Capital Region (NCR) and members in the regions earning not more than P12,000.
Pag-IBIG Fund has likewise reduced its interest rates for one-year and three-year repricing period to 5.375 percent and 6.375 percent, respectively—the lowest interest rates under its regular housing loan program to date.
Moreover, Moti said Pag-IBIG Fund and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) are working closely to bring developments in the countryside.
He said they are working on an initiative to offer pre-approved home loans to encourage developers to invest in areas they normally shy away from due to small market or low opportunities.
“This will be our way to reach out to more borrowers and help them realize their plans of owning a house,” said Moti.