Given the robust real estate industry, the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG Fund is anticipating a bigger fund requirement for housing loans.
Victoria dela Peña, Pag-IBIG Fund vice president for Visayas, said they expect more developers and end-users to apply for housing loans this year and in the next two years.
Pag-IBIG has set aside a total of P45.711 billion for loans this year, said Pag-IBIG Visayas head for business development Rio Teves.
“Out of that, our target for the Cebu housing hub this year is P3.6 billion, a majority of our target of P5.2 billion for Visayas,” said Teves. Most of the housing developments in the Visayas are in Cebu.
Of the P3.6 billion in Cebu, the Cebu North Hub got the bigger allocation of P1.5 billion. Cebu South Hub was given a target of P865.187 million while Tacloban, which they placed under Cebu, was allotted P1.256 billion.
Teves said they expect the targets to increase every year as more property development projects are undertaken to cope with the demand.
Dela Peña said they need to pool more funds to be able to help sustain growth in the industry. One way to do this is for the members to increase their savings with them.
“The requirement now is only a premium of P100 from the employee and P100 counterpart from the employer. They can, however, opt to increase that to increase their savings and can even raise the amount that they can loan from Pag-IBIG,” said dela Peña.
The higher appraisal of land in Cebu is also making properties here more expensive. Developers are initiating more projects in the economic to middle price range or from P750,000 to P3 million.
“We barely even see a housing project within the metro area priced at P750,000. Most of the house-and-lot units are now at P1 million level so it would be really wise to increase the premium to be able to avail of loans above P1 million,” she said.
She said that members can simply ask their employers to increase their savings for Pag-IBIG every payday.
“For P600 monthly savings, you can loan up to P1.3 million and the interest rate now is very competitive. It is only 6.986 percent per annum (for a three-year re-pricing). The savings will also allow members to earn dividends. Last year, the dividends were at 4.08 percent,” she said.
Another way to save through Pag-IBIG is the Modified Pag-IBIG 2 which was launched five years ago. One can simply deposit as low as P500 every month.
“The savings will mature after five years and you can withdraw it already with dividends and interest rates,” she said.
Dela Peña said that members should not fear placing their hard-earned income under the fund as it is guaranteed by the government.
“As you can see, the government has managed our finances well and even reaping growth every year. Again, all these savings will also benefit the members in the long run so we really hope to see more members increasing their savings with us,” she said.
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