DHSUD: Cebu housing market claims ‘false’
‘We take exception to the claim made by ABREP as this puts our office in a bad light when, in fact, we are just doing our mandate as prescribed by law to protect our stakeholders, particularly homebuyers.’
‘We take exception to the claim made by ABREP as this puts our office in a bad light when, in fact, we are just doing our mandate as prescribed by law to protect our stakeholders, particularly homebuyers.’
Contrary to the claim of a group of realtors that the “doldrums” in Cebu’s housing market was due to the delayed approval of licenses to sell (LS), the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development–Region VII said only two LS applications were pending and these had no to minimal impact on the local housing sector.
DHSUD-7 director Mark Anthony Lindugan said the two pending applications — one for a residential subdivision and the other for a columbarium — were in the final stages of approval.
“These two pending applications do not have any impact on the local housing market, contrary to the claim of A Better Real Estate Philippines. The claim is plain and simple false,” Lindugan said.
“We have streamlined our processes precisely to expedite the application and permitting processes,” he added.
In a statement, A Better Real Estate Philippines (ABREP) president Anthony Gerard Leuterio said Cebu’s housing market was experiencing a slowdown due to delays in LS approvals, with some 10,000 housing units awaiting clearance.
Lindugan, however, dismissed the claim.
“We have no pending LS applications covering such a huge number of units. The claim is baseless,” he said.
He said some applications had been issued notices of deficiency in requirements (NDR) and were returned to the developers for completion, while others were suspended due to incomplete submissions.
“Developers are all aware of the NDRs since notices are issued to them by the region,” he said.
Lindugan also took exception to ABREP’s statement.
“We take exception to the claim made by ABREP as this puts our office in a bad light when, in fact, we are just doing our mandate as prescribed by law to protect our stakeholders, particularly homebuyers,” he said.
