Universal and commercial banks’ real estate exposures rose 2.4 percent to P205.4 billion as of September, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said.
Of this amount, additional exposures for the quarter were
P4.7 billion while new investments in securities was P141 million.
The BSP also reported that the industry’s combined real estate loans for the said month increased 2.5 percent to
P188.9 billion from P184.3 billion last quarter.
The big banks extended the majority of these real estate loans or 97.1 percent while their trust departments lent 2.9 percent.
Loans released for the construction and development of real estate properties for commercial purposes comprised 83.5 percent or
P157.8 billion of total real estate loans. The remaining 16.5 percent or P31.1 billion was utilized for the acquisition of residential units by individual homeowners/borrowers.
On the other hand, past due real estate loans dropped 4.5 percent to
P36.1 billion from the previous quarter total of P37.7 billion.
Real estate loans are 92 percent of the total
P205.4 billion universal and commercial banks’ exposures to the industry, the BSP said.
BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said that to encourage loan growth, the BSP would continue to assist the banking sector in unloading bad assets.
He added that BSP’s strong commitment to help banks offload their non-performing assets from their balance sheets along with the latter’s sustained efforts to improve overall asset quality are expected to boost bank lending. This would especially include real estate loans.
According to the central bank, growth in bank lending was driven mainly by loans to the financial institutions, real estate and business services sector. (LCC)
