Bringing technology to socialized housing

Lhoopa, a property technology company started by Marc-Olivier Caillot and his Filipina wife Sabrina in 2018, is helping change how more low-income Filipinos can access socialized housing.

Lhoopa, according to its COO Frederic Levy, is utilizing technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to help more Filipinos own their first affordable home, which would typically be a low-cost housing unit of around 20 to 30 square meters that would cost anywhere from P600,000 to P1.2 milllion.

Lhoopa, Levy explained, helps low-income earners — with the help of technology and AI — to find the property development and location they prefer, and connects them to the necessary government financing institutions such as Pag-IBIG or private financial institutions to acquire their desired property.

Lhoopa’s assistance, Levy said, can even extend up to the move-in process.

More simply, the Lhoopa COO elaborated, Lhoopa is a technology platform that acts like Grab —facilitating the property journey of home buyers, pretty much like a ride hailing app. 

In a white paper titled “From backlog to breakthrough - New blueprints for unlocking housing access,” Lhoopa pointed out that “the Philippines faces a backlog of 8.25 million units as of March this year, with projections showing that this figure could swell to 22.6 million by 2040 if left unaddressed.”

The Lhoopa white paper noted that “affordability, accessibility, financing models and information flows were designed around stable, formal employment different from today’s service sector-driven and largely informal workforce.” 

Thus, the white paper argues, “the challenge is not only to build more homes, but to redefine how access is delivered.”

The study argues further that the problem is not only a lack of supply, but also access, as most Filipinos remain excluded from financing and information systems that were designed for a different economic reality.

The Lhoopa white paper cited that the average annual household income in the Philippines is P353,230 or a little over P29,000 per month according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey . 

This means that a typical Filipino family can only sustainably afford homes priced at around P1.5 million.

Thus, the Lhoopa study showed that around 70 percent of Filipino families can only afford homes below P1.5 million, but only 14 percent of available housing falls within the socialized housing range. 

Additionally, socialized and economic housing supply, which is what majority of Filipinos can afford, remains limited. Housing costs in urban centers, Lhoopa pointed out, are rising faster than household incomes, putting homeownership out of reach for many working families. 

Affordable housing supply, Lhoopa pointed out, remains scarce, and where units are available, they are often far from employment hubs.

In Metro Manila, for example, the Lhoopa study showed, low-cost housing projects are located about 13 to 30 kilometers away from key urban centers, translating into long commutes and added transport costs for households.

It was also highlighted that limited access to financing further compounds the barriers to homeownership.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Lhoopa study revealed, around 44 percent of Filipinos remain unbanked.

The data, the Lhoopa white paper said, indicates that the informal sector is still prevalent in the Philippines. Thus, without pay slips or formal credit histories, many families are excluded from bank financing.

Lhoopa also discovered that while Pag-IBIG provides the most accessible path for low to middle income earners to acquire housing, participation is only at about 17 million active members, compared to an estimated workforce of 48 million, illustrating how ownership pathways remain unclear for those outside the system and underscoring a structural inclusion gap in both access to financing products and awareness of existing programs.

The study added that the Urban Land Institute reported that condominiums in Metro Manila are priced at 19.8 times the median income, making home attainability in the capital more constrained than its Asian counterparts.

Lhoopa’s statistics show that 96 percent of its buyers, who have an average monthly income of P20,000, can only finance homes below P1 million.

Lhoopa’s blueprint proposes three shifts: treating land as access infrastructure, empowering local frontliners with digital tools and simplifying the homeownership journey through inclusive financing and information systems.

Lhoopa, thus, combines adaptive policy, real-time data, mobile technology and trusted local delivery networks — connecting the right land, people and financing faster and with more transparency — with the goal “not just to build more homes, but to build a system where homeownership becomes a realistic path for every working family.”

The white paper points to growing government momentum through programs like Expanded 4PH and the digitization of Pag-IBIG services, and calls for deeper coordination between the public and private sectors.

Lhoopa’s own technology ecosystem connects brokers, contractors and developers nationwide, cutting project turnover time by half compared to industry standards.

It was interesting to learn from Mr. Levy that among the properties that Lhoopa is able to offer on its platform are Ayala Land’s socialized housing development BellaVita Homes, particularly those located in Cabanatuan, Lipa and Porac, among others. 

The BellaVita properties are designed to be accessible to minimum wage earners and the informal business sector. These developments feature well-planned communities with amenities like central parks, clubhouses and basketball courts, along with commercial spaces called “mallengke” for small entrepreneurs. 

Other BellaVita Homes are located in General Trias, Cavite, Pililla, Rizal , Rosario, Batangas, Calabarzon (Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon), and in Central Luzon (Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija), Bicol, Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro.

Lhoopa is a bulk buyer of completed BellaVita units, which I verified with Ayala Land. 

According to Ayala Land, the bulk sale arrangement enables ready-built homes to reach more families through Lhoopa’s technology-driven housing platform and financing channels. 

The units, Ayala Land assured, were developed in compliance with housing standards, and all warranties and documentation were turned over to Lhoopa upon sale.