HGC loans help build 25,000 new homes

MANILA, Philippines - Under the guidance and leadership of Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) chairman Jejomar C. Binay, the Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) approved P37.40 billion retail guaranty lines from January to December 2011. The funders include commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, building and loan associations, insurance companies and housing developers.

According to HGC president, Manuel R. Sanchez, actual housing loans that were released by funders and guaranteed by HGC for 2011 amount to P37.89 billion, covering 25,006 housing loan accounts. Seventy-two percent of these accounts are socialized and low-cost housing packages. Medium-cost and high-end housing packages comprise the remaining 28 percent.

HGC has two major guaranty programs, the retail and developmental guaranty. The retail guaranty covers the credit risk of individual housing loan borrowers, while the developmental guaranty covers the credit risk of loans for construction of housing projects.

Since 2000, with the enactment of its new charter, HGC has guaranteed P257.25 billion worth of private investment in housing – translating to 547,400 housing units. This is in partnership with 103 real estate developers and 124 banks and financial institutions.

HGC aims to increase its housing unit target to 38,800 for 2012 through the launching of new guaranty products including: direct guaranty on individual housing loans, guaranty on microfinance housing loans, guaranty for employees’ housing and guaranty for support facilities for housing.

Also upon instructions of VP Jejomar C. Binay, HGC is adopting a stricter monitoring of the guaranties it approves, to make sure that guaranteed private investments for housing are converted to actual housing units, especially for the poor and marginalized sectors of society.