The real estate sector seeks to address the housing backlog in the country by tapping property technology, which also promotes sustainability and affordability.
Emma Imperial, chairperson and co-founder of Proptech Consortium of the Philippines, said in an event on Thursday that technology can help plug the housing gap in the country, which is seen to hit 6.5 million units by 2030.
“If we have a lot of transparency and speed in our development world, we can do more,” she said, noting that only 200,000 units are expected to be produced annually for now.
“There is really that kind of challenge to us and what we do is that the technology can really bring the less fortunate among Filipinos this kind of opportunity to have houses that are world class and also sustainable.”
Sylvester Wong, vice president of AECOM, said cultivating data and using technology can make housing efficient and cheaper.
“It’s key here, where we can bring together proptech and fintech, in order to create things like more affordability for the housing [sector],” he said.
Wong said proptech also enables customers to secure insurance and qualify for loan applications.
Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers Chairman Marcelino Mendoza said fintech can help the unbanked apply for a housing loan.
Mendoza said upscaling the fintech platforms will aid more unbanked customers to get onboard and have financial access.
As such, he said increasing digitization bodes well for government offices, developers, suppliers and customers in the real estate market.
NEO President and CEO Raymond Rufino, meanwhile, said there should be a focus on building green, resilient and net-zero buildings to make the real estate industry sustainable and to address the increasing concerns on climate change.
For a building to be net-zero, he said it should reduce its power usage, optimize the energy with technology and adopt renewable energy resources.
“Technology is often seen as being more efficient or more effective. But I think going beyond that, the ability of technology combined with entrepreneurs, combined with innovative models, then we start to really achieve a change of scenario, a change of game,” he said.
For his part, Damosa Land President Ricardo Lagdameo said the company’s flagship township development in Davao Del Norte focuses on agriculture.
He said the project has an agro-tourism theme park and promotes backyard and urban farming.
“Aside from just agriculture, what we are doing is putting a lot of innovation into what we are doing so that we can promote sustainability.”
If the government fails to address the housing gap, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said the country’s housing backlog could balloon to 22 million in two decades.
To close the housing gap of 6.5 million between 2017 and 2020, DHSUD said the government needs to build 250,000 houses a year.
Increasing the number of houses built, the DHSUD said, will not only address the housing gap but also boost the economy. The agency noted that building one housing unit means increasing the production of no less than 80 industries.