The digital property seeker series: Affordable Housing 2018 | Philippines

Executive summary

As the country’s population balloons and unstable economic conditions continue, the demand for affordable housing is more pressing than ever. To help property sellers and developers take advantage of this market opportunity, Lamudi made a study on affordable property seekers: the key areas they are searching properties in, their search habits, and the types of affordable homes they seek.

Based on exclusive search data collected during the first half of 2018, Lamudi observed that property seekers who filtered their searches to Php3 million or less were looking into properties priced at Php1.7 to 3 million. Lamudi also found out that females were more active seekers of affordable homes. Age-wise, property seekers aged 25 to 34 years old have shown the greatest interest in affordable houses.

Property seekers in the costliest real estate areas in the National Capital Region-Quezon City and Makati-accounted for the most affordable housing searches online. As for their search activity, property seekers conducted their searches most on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Lamudi also identified the primetime search for affordable properties–9:00 PM to 11:00 PM being the highest– followed by 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

Areas within Rizal and Cavite saw the most interest in affordable housing. Rodriguez, Rizal took the largest share of searches for socialized housing, along with nearby areas like San Mateo. On the other hand, Quezon City and Las Piñas received the highest share of searches for low-cost housing. Antipolo, Davao City, and Bacoor closely followed. Davao City was also among the top areas property seekers considered for economic housing, followed by Cavite municipalities Imus and General Trias, as well as Marilao in Bulacan. The Philippines’ affordable housing backlog, while a major concern for the country, also presents property sellers and developers a specific yet-to-be-satisfied market of buyers.

In the Philippines, price is arguably the biggest consideration property seekers make when buying a home. As much as most would like to live a stone’s throw away from where they make a living or own a home with a significant amount of living and lot space, these and other preferences tend to be compromised when their finances come into play. Indeed, the lower the price is, the better for many, and given the challenges being presented by new tax laws and the almost always present inflation, affordable housing (homes priced Php3 million or less) understandably continue to see the greatest demand from property seekers.

Affordable housing bracket according to the housing and urban development coordinating council

SOCIALIZED

HOUSING

₱ 450,000
OR LESS

ECONOMIC

HOUSING

₱ 450,000 TO
₱ 1,700,000

LOW-COST

HOUSING

₱ 1,700,000
TO ₱ 3,000,000

Regrettably, the supply of affordable homes in the country has not kept up with the demand. According to the industry report “Impact of Housing Activities on the Philippine Economy” jointly completed by the Center for Research and Communication of the University of Asia and the Pacific (CRC-UAP) and Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA), the backlog were already at 6.7 million in 2015, plus with the new housing need for the period 2016 to 2030 approximated at 5.6 million, a total of 12.3 million.

There is now some commitment from real estate developers to address the increasing demand, with the likes of Century Properties (partnered with Mitsubishi Corp.), Primary Homes, and Rockwell Land among the latest to announce projects or allocate their capital expenditures for affordable housing.

Despite new developments on the horizon, a significant backlog remains for the foreseeable future. To better understand and help address the continually increasing demand, Lamudi Philippines has looked to its exclusive data to best identify the property seekers conducting the most searches for affordable homes on the platform, the areas they search properties for, and the types of affordable homes they most look into.

“It’s somewhere between 168,000 and 190,000 housing backlog a year. So when you do the math, considering that population grows, it seems that you would not be able to catch up. So that’s really a huge problem”

– Atty. Christopher Ryan Tan

What category of affordable homes are searched for the most?

Evaluating search data collected during the first half of 2018, Lamudi observed that those looking for homes priced Php3 million or less mostly looked into properties priced Php1.7-3 million (low-cost). This was followed by searches for homes within the next price range-between Php450,000 and Php1.7 million (economic). Those being sold for less than Php450,000 only received a fraction of the searches or at about six percent.

Accounting for half of the searches for affordable homes, the larger volume of searches for homes within the Php1.7-3 million is in line with the trend of costlier homes typically being more available in the affordable and medium-cost markets. In fact, according to the previously mentioned report by the CRC-UAP and SHDA, the excess supply in the latter, or those priced Php3-4 million, increased by half a million in 2015.

Who searched for affordable housing the most?

Female 64%
Male 36%

Lamudi’s exclusive search data has also made it evident that female property seekers have taken a greater interest in affordable homes as compared to their male counterparts. Women accounted for as much as 64 percent of the searches for homes priced Php3 million or less in the first half of 2018, while men accounted for 36 percent.

Age-wise, property seekers aged 25 to 34 years old have shown the greatest interest in affordable houses. Home seekers within the age group accounted for 40 percent of the searches with, again, most coming from female homebuyers at 27 percent, followed by male homebuyers at 13 percent.

Who searched for affordable housing the most?

Social Housing

Economic Housing

Low–Cost Housing

Located in the National Capital Region where real estate is costliest in the country, Quezon City and Makati accounted for the most searches for affordable housing.

QC-based property seekers by far showed the most interest, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the searches in each of the socialized, economic, and low-cost housing segments. Many of the said searches were observed to have been made towards affordable housing in nearby areas like Rizal, making it evident property seekers are often interested in real estate in nearby locations.

While responsible for a significantly lesser share of searches than QC, Makati users still showed the second most interest, accounting for 17 to 21 percent of searches across the three affordable housing segments. Similarly, property seekers in the city were mostly looking into properties that are in areas which are within relative distance, such as those located in the province of Cavite.

National capital Manila and the city of Bacoor figured among the top five locations where most searches for affordable housing had come from, although it must be noted that there had been a small fraction compared to those from users in Quezon City and Makati.

Leads generated per price bracket

1:00PM - 3:00PM 11.5%
9:00PM - 11:00PM 12%

With regard to the search habits of those looking for affordable housing, Lamudi found that property seekers commonly conducted their searches on Tuesday, although the difference between days was not too significant. Over 15 percent of total searches for affordable housing were made Tuesdays, while other days of the week had 13- to 14-percent share of searches.

In terms of the most typical times when searches for affordable housing were made, the latter half of the day was when most property seekers look into affordable housing listed online. Affordable property seekers searches most during primetime, as the hours of 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM accounted for as much as 12 percent of the searches, followed by the hours of 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at 11.5 percent.

Most searched areas for affordable housing

Among the various cities and municipalities in the Philippines, those located in the provinces of Rizal and Cavite had been the ones commonly seeing the most interest for affordable housing.

The municipality of Rodriguez in Rizal had the largest share of searches for socialized housing at almost 24 percent. Nearby San Mateo also received a substantial share of the interest at over seven percent. Rizal capital Antipolo, on the other hand, saw substantial interest from property seekers looking for low-cost housing, with the city receiving as much as over 13 percent of the total searches in the segment.

Las Piñas received a slightly higher share of the searches for low-cost housing at over 18 percent. Bacoor also figured in the top five of most searched places for low-cost housing in the Philippines, accounting for as much as over seven percent of the total searches. In terms of economic housing, the cities of Imus and General Trias were among the most searched in the country, receiving over 14 and almost 11 percent of the searches, respectively.

Quezon City was the sole Metro Manila location to receive a substantial amount of the searches, particularly for low-cost housing at over 23 percent. Also of note is Davao City, which received over nine percent of the searches for the same housing segment. It was also the most searched area in the country for economic housing, with almost 21 percent share of the total searches for the price segment.

Leads generated per price bracket

Price Range Pageviews Sessions Leads
<450K 1.60% 1.10% 2.30%
450K - 1.7M 12.10% 14.80% 14.40%
1.7M - 3M 14.60% 13.60% 18.10%
3M - 4.5M 16.70% 16.40% 19.60%
4.5M - 6M 12.40% 12.00% 13.80%
6M - 9M 14.00% 13.00% 12.80%
9M - 12M 6.60% 6.60% 6.20%
12M - 20M 8.90% 9.70% 6.00%
>20M 13.10% 12.80% 6.80%
Total 100% 100% 100%

Properties within the Php1.7 million to Php3 million price range fell under the affordable housing market. Unsurprisingly, data showed that the interest for properties under Php3 million were some of the highest among property seekers. However, affordable property seekers also took great interest in properties within the Php3 million to Php4.5 million, showing that they can adjust their budget should there be a need for it.

Check out our published real estate trend reports

DISCLAIMER:
While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this report has been received and analyzed from most reliable sources, Lamudi is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in this report is provided "as is", with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Nothing herein shall to any extent substitute for the independent investigations and the sound technical and business judgment of the reader. In no event will Lamudi, or its partners, employees or agents, be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this report or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.