Housing undersupply seen to reach 12.5M by 2030

The housing backlog could reach 12.5 million units by 2030, the real estate sector said. In a briefing Wednesday afternoon, the property development sector led by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Association, Inc. and the Subdivision and Housing Association, Inc. (SHDA) warned of a shortage in socialized, economic and low-cost housing.   “Backlog could... balloon to 10 million in 2020 to 12.5 million by 2030,” said SHDA President Paul Tanchi, noting that current backlog stands at 3.5 million. According to a study commissioned by the groups, demand for socialized housing was at 1.14 million in 2012, while demand for economic housing was at 2.5 million. The property sector, however, was only able to supply 479,765 units in socialized housing and 541,913 units in economic housing. For low-cost housing, demand was higher at 704,406 compared to supply at 242,246 units. Medium cost and high end housing, meanwhile, have unit surpluses of 250,403 and 224,011 units, respectively. At the same briefing, the Organization of Socialized Housing Developers of the Philippines Inc. and the National Real Estate Association Inc. said the country should construct at least 200,000 units annually on top of the  345,941 housing units per year to service the estimated 6.54 million demand. In a separate briefing Wednesday, Julius Guevara, associate director of global property consultancy firm Colliers, said mid-priced and low-end residences will be on the upswing as “demand for that is solid because of housing backlog.”  — SOA/BM, GMA News