AFC SME to fund home construction

AFC SME Finance Inc. is offering loans of up to P5 million for home construction to those with land but cannot borrow from banks due to their strict documentation requirements.

“Families keep telling us the same thing — they have the land but they simply cannot raise the money to build. This is the gap we are trying to bridge,” said Bernadette “Bernie” Recto, president of AFC SME, a member of the Asialink Group of Companies.

Recto said AFC SME loans provide financing of up to P5 million, subject to a verified project cost or a 70 percent loan-to-value limit, with repayment terms of up to 20 years.

AFC SME also has a quick loan approval process with less rigorous requirements to allow borrowers to build soonest, and beat rising costs due to inflation.

She said the program is aimed at households with steady income like market vendors, small contractors, farmers, jeepney and tricycle operators, families supported from overseas.

Employed individuals and MSME owners may also apply, subject to credit evaluation, using a borrower-owned lot with a verified land title under their name as collateral. Funds are released in three or four tranches based on construction progress and compliance with release conditions, she said.

“We look at what a household earns and what it can realistically carry. That is the same discipline we apply to small business borrowers,” Recto said. “Applied to housing, it reaches families who have been paying their obligations faithfully for years and have simply never been visible to a bank.”

AFC SME began in 2018 as a microfinancing provider for micro businesses and pivoted into real estate-secured lending in 2021. It has released P1.06 billion in loans so far this year, against P2.8 billion extended cumulatively from its founding through the ending of September 2026. The company also partnered with property developers to broaden access to affordable housing segments.