Benise Balaoing

Residents explore a model unit, as Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso inaugurates its new housing project in Vitas, Tondo, Manila on February 7, 2022. Manila. Tondominium 01, one of the buildings of the two high-rise condominium project is currently open to interested buyers, which may be availed through socialized housing payment scheme.


Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News 

Residents explore a model unit, as Mayor Isko Moreno Domagoso inaugurates its new housing project in Vitas, Tondo, Manila on February 7, 2022. Manila. Tondominium 01, one of the buildings of the two high-rise condominium project is currently open to interested buyers, which may be availed through socialized housing payment scheme.

Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

MANILA HOUSING

Raine Musñgi

ABS-CBN News

<div> </div>MANILA — A house once priced at around P300,000 is now around P950,000, according to Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) Chief Marketing Officer Regina Hahn Siy.“The costs increase,” she said, pointing to rising land and construction costs.That sharp increase has turned the government’s push for affordable housing into a tougher business and policy problem: How do developers build homes that Filipinos can actually afford when the cost of building them keeps rising?The government raised the maximum selling price for socialized house-and-lot packages to <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2026/1/6/gov-t-raises-ceiling-prices-for-socialized-housing-units-pag-ibig-1508" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">P950,000</a> in 2026, from a maximum of P450,000 previously, to reflect higher land and construction costs.But even P950,000 is a stretch for the very buyers the program targets.“P900,000 plus is expensive upfront for most Filipinos,” SHDA National President Kerwin Padua said.<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tUQPJQvCgk4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>Government financing can help. The guests cited a 3 percent interest rate and roughly ₱4,100 monthly amortization for socialized housing, but Siy acknowledged that it remains “a little steep” for someone earning around the minimum wage.And the industry’s cost pressures may not end there. SHDA supports the principle behind the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, or RPVARA, which seeks a more standardized and transparent property valuation system. But Padua wants implementation delayed and phased in, saying local governments need more time to prepare.His concern: higher land valuations could mean higher taxes, higher acquisition costs, and ultimately higher home prices.“The amount, that is the big question,” Padua said. “It needs more evaluation, more deeper study on it.”The timing matters. The Marcos administration has set a target of 1.13 million housing units by the end of its term. DHSUD reported that 575,693 housing units had been facilitated as of June 2026, or just over half the target.But the housing industry says getting more units built is not simply a matter of clearing permits.SHDA says a previous socialized-housing compliance requirement could keep developers waiting two to 2.5 years just to secure a License to Sell, with the entire process potentially stretching to three to five years. A new DHSUD policy has since eased that requirement, which the industry expects could unlock more applications.Then there is the 15 percent balanced-housing requirement, the cost of compliance, financing, land availability, and the government’s push to digitize permitting.The bigger question is whether regulatory relief can bring down the cost of a home fast enough for Filipino incomes to catch up. For developers, however, the business remains deeply personal.Siy said meeting homebuyers and hearing the stories behind their long struggle to own a house makes the industry’s headaches worthwhile.“It’s just very fulfilling. And it feels like in some way we are a part of the beginning of a better future for them.”But behind that optimism is a harder question for government, developers and homebuyers alike: If P950,000 is already difficult to afford, what will it take to make the next million homes genuinely affordable?And SHDA has plenty more to say about what is slowing projects down, why developers want more time on property valuation, and whether the government’s regulatory fixes will actually put more keys into Filipino families’ hands.

A house once priced at around P300,000 is now around P950,000, according to the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association.

A house once priced at around P300,000 is now around P950,000, according to the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association.

P950k for an ‘affordable’ home? Can Filipinos still afford socialized housing?

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P950k for an ‘affordable’ home? Can Filipinos still afford socialized housing?

Raine Musñgi,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 27, 2026 08:00 AM PHT

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Updated August 27, 2026 10:57 AM PHT

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housing

affordable housing

Subdivision and Housing Developers Association

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