Taking into account an average mortgage loan of EUR60,000 and the new leu mortgage loan volume in September, EUR260 million equivalent, this means 4,300 loans granted this month alone.
The lowest volume of new mortgage loans in lei in January-September was recorded in June, merely RON0.9 billion, while the peak of the year, almost RON1.29 billion was recorded in July.
A boost to mortgage lending in September may have come from the new government-backed scheme called `New Home’ (Noua Casa), which started at the beginning of this fall. The new scheme doubles the borrowing cap for new homes to EUR140,000 but the minimum down payment required tripled from 5% to 15%, compared with the previous scheme (First Home or Prima Casa).
The volume of new mortgage loans in lei stood at more than RON10 billion in January-September, an increase of almost RON1 billion or 10.6% on the year-ago period.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)