Home loan payments soar to P57.6 billion in 10 months

MANILA, Philippines — Home loan payments to the Home Development Mutual Fund, commonly known as Pag-IBIG, soared to a record P57.6 billion from January to October, allowing the company to exceed its performing loan ratio target for the year.

In a statement, Pag-IBIG said home loan payments rose by 30 percent to a record high P57.58 billion in the first 10 months from P44.27 billion in the same period a year ago.

This allowed Pag-IBIG to record a higher performing loans ratio of 89.96 percent in October, exceeding the agency’s year-end target of 88 percent or by 196 basis points.

During the pandemic, Pag-IBIG’s performing loans ratio slid to 79.68 percent.

Housing chief and Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees chair Jose Rizalino Acuzar said the latest performance was a reflection of the continued recovery of Pag-IBIG borrowers from the financial difficulties from the two-year pandemic.

“Our strong collections is key in maintaining our financial sustainability, as the amount we collect are plowed back to our housing portfolio so that more members can avail of affordable home loans,” Acuzar said.

This is in line with the administration’s target of addressing the country’s housing backlog over the next six years.

Pag-IBIG CEO Marilene Acosta said borrowers’ on-time payments allow the agency to continue financing the loans of other members who wish to secure housing loans.

“Maintaining our collections strong and our performing loans ratio high would allow us to not only address the loan needs of our members, but to also keep our interest rates low despite the upward market trend,” Acosta said.

Over the next six years, Pag-IBIG intends to finance at least 708,000 housing units.

Pag-IBIG has 14 million active members and has P800 billion in total assets which is expected to reach P1.5 trillion by 2028.