MORE Filipinos, particularly minimum wage and low-income earners, gained access to home financing in the first half of 2026.
This after the Pag-Ibig Fund increased its housing loan releases by double digits, driven by a sharp rise in socialized housing loans under the Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.
Pag-Ibig Fund said it released P69.19 billion in home loans from January to June, up 15 percent from P60.25 billion a year earlier. The financing covered 43,051 housing units, a nine percent increase from the same period in 2025.
The growth was led by socialized housing loans, which surged 118 percent year on year to P6.70 billion, while the number of units financed more than doubled, rising 132 percent to 6,601.
Socialized housing now accounts for 15 percent of all units financed by the state-run housing lender, reflecting the increasing share of low-income borrowers in its portfolio.
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling, who chairs the 11-member Pag-Ibig Fund Board of Trustees, said the results show the government’s efforts to make affordable housing financing more accessible, particularly to minimum wage and low-income Filipinos.
“Our housing figures for the first half of the year reflect not just growth, but growth that reaches those who need it most,” Aliling said.
To sustain demand, Pag-Ibig continues to offer a three percent subsidized interest rate for eligible socialized housing borrowers. It has also introduced promotional rates of 4.5 percent and 5.75 percent for low-cost, medium-cost and open-market housing loans and increased the maximum housing loan amount to P10 million.
Pag-Ibig Fund chief executive officer Marilene Acosta said the agency’s subsidized lending program has enabled more low-income families to own homes with monthly payments that can be lower than rental costs.
She added that the higher loan ceiling and continued collaboration with private developers are expected to widen access to affordable housing. / KOC