IMF urges use of more data sources for Residential Property Price Index

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) needs to tap more data sources to improve the Residential Property Price Index (RPPI), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

“The BSP should continue to engage other agencies and stakeholders who have relevant information on property prices to broaden the coverage of the RPPI in the long run,” the IMF said in its Report on the Residential Property Price Index Mission for the Philippines released on Thursday.

The RPPI measures the average price changes over time of various residential properties using bank mortgage data.

The BSP first launched the RPPI in the first quarter of 2025, replacing its predecessor, the Residential Real Estate Price Index.

In the report, the IMF urged the BSP to consider including in the index indicators such as the volume and value of transactions and using other administrative data sources.

Currently, the central bank uses residential real estate loans extended by universal and commercial banks as well as thrift banks as a reference for the RPPI, which the IMF said excludes cash purchases as well as transactions financed by developers and the Home Development Mutual Fund.

“While current loan data is sufficient for index compilation in the short to medium term, the BSP should expand its data sources by leveraging administrative data and employing advanced techniques like web scraping,” it said. “This approach will address existing data gaps and enhance the comprehensiveness of the index in the long run.”

The BSP has been developing its Real Property Information System project with the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance.

The project will serve as a database of all real property transactions that would allow early preparation of the schedule of market values, the IMF said.

The IMF also urged the central bank to enhance the visibility of the RPPI on its website.

“The authorities should provide more prominence to the RPPI statistical release,” it said, noting that the existing data is “quite difficult” to access. — Katherine K. Chan