THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is set to revise price ceilings for government-backed housing projects by October to attract more developers and boost supply under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s flagship “Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino” (4PH) program, a senior official said Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.
Speaking at the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) Central Visayas-Housing Summit in Cebu, DHSUD Undersecretary Sharon Faith Paquiz said the new maximum selling price will be raised to P1.83 million for horizontal units and P1.8 million for vertical projects.
“We listened to developers who said the current price ceiling is too low for them to participate,” Paquiz said. “We’ve already revised it and are waiting for the October timeline for its effectivity.”
Eight-point agenda
The adjustment is part of DHSUD’s eight-point agenda to address regulatory bottlenecks, rising construction costs, and financing gaps that have slowed housing delivery.
Socialized housing prices in the Philippines vary depending on the project type and structure, with recent adjustments in October 2023 raising ceilings to P850,000 for socialized subdivision projects and several tiers for condominiums based on their number of stories, ranging from P933,320 for a four-story 22-square-meter unit to P1.62 million for a 27-square-meter unit in projects with 10+ floors. The price ceiling for a socialized condominium project that includes land development is P1.8 million.
Paquiz said the agency has expanded the 4PH beyond vertical projects to include horizontal, rental, and community mortgage programs, making the initiative “more inclusive and more accessible.”
The department also launched measures to streamline permits, fast-track frameworks and eliminate backlogs in licensing, while vowing zero tolerance for substandard housing and corruption in regulatory processes.
“We do not build for numbers, we build for livable and sustainable communities,” Paquiz told developers, stressing that projects failing to meet standards on utilities, elevators and facilities will not be certified for completion.
Pag-Ibig Fund has cut the interest subsidy for socialized housing to three percent from six percent, lowering financing costs for buyers. Borrowers can now directly approach Pag-IBIG for unit purchases under the 4PH without going through local governments, part of DHSUD’s “beneficiary-centric” policy shift.
The government is targeting one million housing units a year to close the country’s 6.5-million housing backlog.
Paquiz urged private developers to actively join the program.
“We listened and revised policies to open more modalities in 4PH,” she said. “Now it’s time for you to give back and help us deliver the housing needs of our people.”
Welcome development
Harold See, SHDA Central Visayas president, welcomed the programs and reforms of the agency, saying collaboration between the government and the private sector is crucial to address the housing crisis.
“Building partnerships is one thing; sustaining them is another. We need to make those partnerships work,” he said.
The summit gathered policymakers, developers and local officials in Cebu to discuss solutions to regulatory hurdles, financing gaps, and rising construction costs that have long slowed housing delivery in the Philippines./ KOC