Delinquent housing loans down 25% – BSP

The non-performing housing loans of Philippine banks in the first quarter fell by 25 percent to P9.69 billion from P12.97 billion as of year-end 2010, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). This developed as the total exposure of banks in the real estate sector inched up by 2.6 percent to P44.9 billion, driven by a 2.7 growth in real estate loans (RELs), the central bank said in a statement Wednesday. Overall, the non-performing RELs slipped by 8 percent to P26.2 billion, resulting in a 6.1 percent improvement in the ratio of non-performing RELs to total RELs. As a percentage of the total loan portfolio, delinquent RELs also dropped to 0.9 percent. Housing and building loans comprise 97.3 percent of the bank exposure in the property industry with the remainder as investments in securities of real estate firms. While there were less bad loans for residential projects, it was the opposite for commercial buildings. Non-performing loans for commercial projects rose by 6.32 percent to P16.5 billion from P15.53 billion in the same comparable period. Banks issued P192 billion in residential loans in the first quarter and P240.98 billion in loans for commercial buildings. Universal and commercial banks accounted for almost three-fourths of the banking sector’s real estate exposure while thrift banks took up the balance. — With Earl Rosero/VS, GMA News