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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Banking & Finance devider Property inflation slows to near 7-year low as tighter lending curbs housing demand

Property inflation slows to near 7-year low as tighter lending curbs housing demand

Published Mar 27, 2026 03:54 pm

At A Glance

  • Residential property costs posted the slowest inflation rate in nearly seven years, or since before the pandemic, as Filipinos stepped on the brakes on borrowing cash from banks to purchase housing amid tighter lending standards.

Residential property prices posted their slowest inflation rate in nearly seven years, or since before the Covid-19 pandemic, as Filipinos stepped on the brakes on borrowing from banks to purchase housing amid tighter lending standards.

“Residential property prices in the Philippines continued to rise year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, but at the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2019,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in its latest residential property price index (RPPI) report published on Friday, March 27.

Residential property prices nationwide grew by 1.6 percent annually in the fourth quarter of last year, easing from 1.9 percent in the third quarter. The report did not provide the inflation rate for the first quarter of 2019.

While prices in the National Capital Region (NCR) increased by 2.3 percent, prices in areas outside Metro Manila saw growth slow to one percent year-on-year, its “lowest growth on record.”

Prices in provinces, or areas outside major metropolitan centers, also shrank by seven percent, marking the steepest contraction since the first quarter of 2019.

House prices nationwide inched up by a negligible 0.1 percent year-on-year, down from 1.9 percent in the third quarter. This represents the “smallest increase since the first quarter of 2019.”

Meanwhile, condominium unit prices continued to climb by 3.5 percent, accelerating from the 1.4-percent growth seen in the previous quarter.

House prices in Metro Manila moved into negative territory, declining by 0.4 percent after a strong 5.8-percent increase in the previous quarter.

Slowing lending growth was among the contributing factors to the moderation. The number of residential real estate loans (RRELs) granted nationwide slowed sharply from 24.6 percent in the third quarter to just 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter.

“This moderation reflected weaker sentiment among both consumers and lenders,” the report read.

Additionally, annual growth in condominium loans contracted by 2.7 percent, a sharp reversal from the 50.8-percent growth recorded in the previous quarter.

Based on the BSP’s fourth-quarter 2025 senior bank loan officers’ survey (SLOS), there was a “net tightening of credit standards for housing loans.”

Related Tags

Housing Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) residential market Inflation
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