THE PESO’S sharp appreciation against the dollar has neither dampened overseas Filipinos’ interest in buying real estate nor resulted in delinquency in their housing loans so far, BPI Family Bank said.
Alfonso Salcedo, president of BPI Family Bank–the thrift bank subsidiary of the Ayalas’ Bank of the Philippine Islands–said housing loans from overseas Filipinos were still growing and these borrowers had been up to date in their loan payment.
The BPI group is currently the country’s biggest channel for foreign exchange remittances.
Salcedo said the bank checked late last year whether there were requests for loan repackaging from this sector and found out there was none.
“But of course we’re very cautious, we’re looking at how that sector is doing,” he said.
The peso gained 18.8 percent against the dollar last year to become Asia’s best performing currency. But the steep appreciation has also diluted the peso equivalent of the money sent home by overseas Filipinos, raising concerns over a possible decline in consumer spending and an increase in loan delinquency among borrowers from this sector.
Salcedo said the strong peso had not affected housing loan take-up apparently because of these borrowers’ determination to own their own homes.
“And I really laud our developers because they have come up with projects designed for OFWs, ” he said.