Housing Loans Show Remarkable Growth in 2017
Statistics of the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) have finally detected a significant upheaval in the credit market after years of freezing around zero. Housing loans have risen most heavily - with a significant 7.4% last year, the figures show. In absolute terms, the increase in mortgage loans is close to BGN 650 million. By comparison, in 2016, the mortgage niche registered a minimum increase of 1.4 per cent. Thus, the total volume of mortgage loans as of December 31, 2017 is now 9.4 billion.
Real estate agents comment that the interest in these products was raised primarily due to the lowering of the interest rates, which already move around 4% per annually, as well as because of the rising incomes of the population. As a result, more and more properties, as well as an increasing percentage of their funding, are paid by bank loans rather than by their own funds. At the same time, bankers say that interest is far from being the main factor in the search for loans, but rather the overall economic situation.