Tenure Status of the Housing Unit and Lot
In 2019, about two-thirds (64.1%) of families owned the house and lot they occupied based on the results of the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS). About fifteen percent (14.8%) of families occupied a house they own but with rent-free lot with consent of owner, 8.3 percent rented the house/room including lot; 6.7 percent occupied a rent-free house and lot with consent of owner; and the rest either owned the house but the lot was rent-free without consent of owner (3.2%), owned the house but the lot was rented (2.4%) or with rent-free house and lot without consent of owner (0.4%). (Table 1, and Figure 1)
In eight out of 17 regions, the proportion of families who owned the house and lot they occupied was higher than the 64.1 percent at the national level. In three of these regions, at least 80 percent owned the house and lot they occupied. These are Cagayan Valley (91.5%), Ilocos Region (85.0%), and Cordillera Administrative Region (80.3%). The other five regions with greater than the national proportion of families residing in owned house and lot that they occupied were in Central Luzon (78.3%), SOCCSKSARGEN (67.3%), Central Visayas (67.1%), MIMAROPA (66.9%), and Northern Mindanao (65.1%). (Table 1, and Figure 2).
Type of Building/House
Nine out of ten (92.7%) of Filipino families were residing in single houses. The rest dwelt in apartment/accessoria/rowhouse (4.5%), duplex houses (2.2%), and other multi-unit residential/building or commercial/industrial/ agricultural building/house, including condominium/condotel (0.6%). In the National Capital Region, about 80.9 percent of the families were living in single houses, 12.6 percent of families resided in apartment/accessoria/ rowhouse, 3.2 percent in duplex, while the rest lived in other types of housing unit. (Table 2, and Figure 3)
Construction Materials of Roofs and Outer Walls
Majority of Filipino houses had roofs and outer walls made of strong materials. Nine in every ten (91.1%) families reported that their housing unit was made of strong materials for the roof, and about three in every four (73.5%) families reported with strong materials for the outer walls. Strong materials refer to galvanized iron or aluminum, tile, concrete, and brick stone, while light materials refer to cogon, nipa, or anahaw. (Table 3, and 4)
Across regions, CALABARZON recorded the highest proportion of families living in houses with strong materials for the roofs (97.5 %), while Central Luzon (90.1 %) had the highest proportion with strong materials for the outer walls. On the other hand, Bicol (74.5%), and Davao (47.5%) regions had the lowest proportions of families living in houses with strong materials for their roofs and outer walls, respectively. (Table 3, and 4)
Household Conveniences
In 2019 APIS, households were asked for the presence of household conveniences/devices in working condition. Cellular phone was the most common household convenience/device which was present in nine out of 10 (90.7%) Filipino homes, followed by television set (82.2%), washing machine (46.5%), refrigerator/freezer (46.3%), and motorcycle/tricycle (41.4%). (Table 5)
The APIS is a nationwide survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority designed to provide non-income indicators related to poverty at the national level. It also gathered data on the socio-economic profile of families and other information related to their living condition. In the 2019 APIS, around 44,000 sample households were covered nationwide deemed sufficient to provide reliable estimate at the national and regional levels.
DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
