Lawmaker urges safeguards to keep homeownership affordable amid rising borrowing costs

MANILA, Philippines– Galing Sa Puso Party-list Rep. JP Padiernos on Monday required more powerful safeguards and targeted real estate financing programs to keep homeownership within reach of Filipino households, alerting that increasing loaning expenses and relentless inflation might even more deteriorate real estate cost.

Padiernos, a member of your house Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, stated the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) current 50-basis-point boost in its benchmark rate of interest to 5.50% might include pressure to a currently having a hard time home market, especially as financial development slows and stagflation dangers install.

S&P Global Ratings just recently flagged the nation’s intensifying financial outlook, pointing out a downturn in the very first half of 2026’s gdp development to 2.6 percent and October inflation reaching an almost four-year high of 7.8 percent. It forecasts full-year financial development of 2.9 percent and typical yearly inflation of 5.5 percent.

High oil costs and a strong El Niño pattern are likewise anticipated to press food expenses greater, even more deteriorating customer costs and squeezing home budget plans through the very first half of 2027. S&P anticipates the BSP to keep raised rate of interest for longer to consist of inflation.

“For households preparing to purchase a home or condo through a bank loan, the BSP’s rate choice raises severe issues about cost, especially as stagflationary pressures, increasing food, electrical power, fuel, and transport expenses, continue to wear down home buying power,” Padiernos stated.

He kept in mind that while modifications in the BSP’s benchmark rate do not immediately equate into comparable boosts in industrial real estate loan rates, they affect banks’ financing expenses and loan repricing schedules.

“The BSP has an essential function in preserving cost stability, which is important to securing the acquiring power of Filipino households. At the very same time, we need to analyze complementary procedures to make sure that greater loaning expenses do not additional limitation access to cost effective real estate,” Padiernos stated.

“When home loan rates intensify exactly as standard needs take in a bigger share of non reusable earnings, homeownership ends up being greatly harder to accomplish,” he included.

Real estate market information indicate installing price pressures even before the current financial tightening up. Colliers Philippines reported that net take-up of Metro Manila condos was up to 500 systems in the 2nd quarter of 2026, down 60 percent from the previous quarter and marking its most affordable quarterly level in 5 quarters.

The residential or commercial property consultancy likewise reported a shift towards more budget friendly systems. Condos priced in between 1.8 million and 3.6 million represented 67 percent of overall net take-up in the very first half of 2026, up from 33 percent in the exact same duration in 2015.
Colliers has actually prompted designers to reassess their selling techniques and provide more versatile, prolonged payment plans, especially for houses priced in between 2.5 million and 12 million.

“For Filipino households, the main concern is whether funding and real estate choices will stay obtainable as financial policy remains tight to fight inflation. For policymakers and the home sector, the instant difficulty is preserving monetary stability without entirely closing the door on economical homeownership,” he stated.

Padiernos contacted banks and federal government policymakers to establish targeted and available real estate financing programs for middle- and lower-income novice purchasers to cushion the effect of extended financial tightening up.
These procedures, he stated, need to show the real funding capability of potential property buyers, with transparent loan terms and safeguards to make sure month-to-month amortizations stay workable and sustainable.