RESIDENTIAL property prices declined for the second consecutive quarter in April to June this year, driven by the downtrend in real estate prices in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) Residential Real Estate Price Index (RREPI) showed house prices nationwide contracted by 9.4 percent in the second quarter of 2021 from their levels in the same period last year.
The BSP attributed the decline to the “continued effects of the pandemic on the residential property demand” as well as high base effects.
“The year-on-year contraction in the nationwide residential property prices was driven mainly by the downtrend of property prices in the NCR, which fell by 18.3 percent relative to the second quarter of 2020, marking four consecutive quarters of decline since the third quarter of 2020,” the BSP said in a statement.
The decline emanated from the negative price changes of single detached, condominium and townhouse units in the NCR. In the case of duplex housing, no bank loans were granted and reported to the BSP during the period.
Property prices in areas outside NCR also decreased, albeit marginally by 0.6 percent as the drop in the prices of single detached/attached houses more than offset the growth in the prices of townhouses, duplexes, and condominium units.
The average appraised value per square meter of new housing units in the country contracted by 29.1 percent from its level in the previous year.
This trend was similarly observed in NCR, while in areas outside NCR, the average appraised value per square meter of new properties rose.
By type of new dwellings, condominium units and single detached/attached houses registered lower average appraised value per square meter, while higher average appraised value per square meter were observed for townhouses and duplexes.
The BSP’s RREPI was first published in 2016, and was developed in response to the scarcity of official data on the property sector of the Philippines.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno earlier announced that BSP is set to release a commercial property price index by this year.
