Private developers have praised the adoption of a new price ceiling for socialized housing by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the Department of Economy, Planning and Development (DEPDev).

The Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) welcomed the issuance of a Joint Memorandum Circular between DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling and DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on 1 December and the subsequent release of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

“The new price ceiling is reflective of the current increases in the prices of land, labor and materials, and will ensure support for the production of socialized housing, both vertical and horizontal projects,” it said.

The issuance of JMC 2025-001 followed months of a sustained dialogue through a technical working group (TWG) between the DHSUD and various housing stakeholders, particularly private developers, and deliberations with DEPDev.

Upon his assumption to office last May, Aliling created the TWG to ensure the alignment between the DHSUD and the private sector and to boost President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s flagship Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program.

Developers fixed ceiling

Aliling noted that the price adjustments recommended by private developer groups, namely, SHDA, National Real Estate  Association (NREA), Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP), and the Chamber of Real Estate Builders Association (CREBA), were approved by the JMC. The four developer groups were part of the TWG.

“The JMC is proof that our government, under the leadership of President Marcos Jr., listens, is responsive, and takes into account all sectors in the formulation and implementation of its policies,” Aliling said.

“This JMC is the result of an open, proactive, and transparent dialogue between the DHSUD and private developers. We expect the production of socialized housing to increase as 2026 begins,” he added.

He assured that the circular was also crafted with utmost consideration for the protection of home buyers, citing the bigger size now mandated for socialized housing. 

The circular set the maximum selling price for a socialized house and lot package and condominium units at P950,000 and P1.8 million, respectively.

The JMC also effectively set a bigger minimum area for socialized housing at 24 square meters.

The updating of the socialized housing price ceiling is in compliance with Republic Act 11201, the law that created the DHSUD, which mandated the “DHSUD and the National Economic and Development Authority, now DEPDEV, to jointly determine, review, and revise the maximum selling price at any time but not more than once every two years, to align with the prevailing economic conditions.”