Total ownership cost of a house-and-lot versus a condo over your horizon.
Lower total cost over the horizon
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House-and-lot total cost
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Condo total cost
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The sticker price is the wrong number to compare
Filipino buyers torn between a house-and-lot and a condo usually line up the two purchase prices and pick the cheaper one. That comparison misses most of what ownership actually costs. A condo almost always carries monthly association dues that a house-and-lot does not, and both carry real property tax and years of loan interest. This tool ignores the headline price and instead totals the true cost of holding each property over the horizon you set: the loan interest you pay, the real property tax, and, for the condo, the dues. Whichever total is lower is the cheaper home to own, even if its sticker price is higher.
One deliberate choice shapes every result. The principal you repay on a mortgage is not treated as a cost here, because it builds equity you own. Only the interest leaves your pocket for good. That is why the tool counts interest paid over the months you actually hold the property, not the full price, when it weighs the two options.
A PHP 6,000,000 house against a PHP 5,000,000 condo over ten years
The defaults pit a PHP 6 million house-and-lot against a PHP 5 million condo, both financed at 7 percent over a 20-year term, with PHP 4,000 a month in condo dues, held for 10 years. Real property tax here is the basic levy plus the Special Education Fund on the assessed value, where assessed value is 20 percent of the price at the residential assessment level this calculator applies for a city. On a PHP 6 million house that assessed value is PHP 1.2 million, and the combined 2 percent basic city rate plus 1 percent SEF comes to PHP 36,000 a year, or PHP 360,000 across ten years.
| Cost over 10 years | House-and-lot (PHP 6M) | Condo (PHP 5M) |
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The condo wins by roughly PHP 178,095 over the decade. Its lower price means less interest and a smaller tax bill, and even PHP 480,000 of dues is not enough to overturn that lead at these inputs. Shift the numbers and the verdict can flip: raise the dues, narrow the price gap, or extend the horizon, and the house-and-lot can pull ahead because it has no recurring dues eating into the comparison year after year. The chart in the results panel breaks down costs by component for each option.
Dues are forever, interest tapers, and taxes are local
The three cost lines behave very differently over time, and understanding that helps you read the result. Loan interest is heaviest in the early years and shrinks as the balance falls, so a longer holding period dilutes its weight. Association dues, by contrast, never stop and often rise with inflation, which is why they can quietly become the deciding factor on a long horizon. Real property tax sits in the middle, steady from year to year unless the local government revalues the area.
Confirm the tax and dues with the right offices
Real property tax is a local tax, not a national one, so the actual rate, the assessment level, and any revaluation are decided by your city or municipal government and collected by its treasurer, with the assessment level set by the local assessor. The figures this calculator applies are common residential settings, but they vary by locality, so verify them with the assessor and treasurer where the property sits. For the condo, ask the developer or building administration for the current dues and the planned increases, since a low introductory rate can climb sharply once the building is fully turned over.
Questions buyers ask
Why is loan interest counted but not the price I repay?
Because the principal portion of every amortization buys you a slice of the property. When you eventually sell, that equity comes back to you, so it is a transfer of wealth into an asset rather than a cost. Interest is different: it is the fee you pay the bank for the money, and it is gone whether you keep the home or sell it. Comparing only the money that truly leaves your hands gives a fairer read on which property is cheaper to live in.
Does this tool include the taxes and fees I pay when buying?
No. It focuses on the recurring cost of owning, so it leaves out one-off purchase costs such as documentary stamp tax, transfer tax, registration fees, and the broker's commission. Those can add several percent to the price on day one and are worth budgeting separately. Use this comparison for the long-run holding cost, then add the closing costs of each option before you decide.
At what point does the house-and-lot become the cheaper choice?
It tends to win when the price gap between the two is small, when condo dues are high, or when you plan to hold for a long time. Because dues compound year after year while the house has none, a longer horizon steadily favors the house-and-lot. Try lengthening the ownership horizon or raising the dues in the tool and watch the verdict change, which is exactly the kind of sensitivity test this comparison is built for.