The growth pace of the home buying loans might drop soon because of the laws likely to make it harder for people to get such a loan, such as the debt discharge law.
“The leu-denominated mortgage lending business will obviously plunge. (…) It will be months before banks estimate what their loss rates are, what problems they may have under the new circumstances,” says economic analyst Aurelian Dochia.
The loans via the government-backed First Home scheme, which boosted the banks’ business, are currently offered at 2% above the three-month ROBOR, the reference rate for leu loans, which is now at less than 1% per annum. However, the cost of such loans could go up soon, which might put pressure on those who took out mortgage loans, analysts say.
The First Home loans amount to about RON28 billion, higher than the overall mortgage loans in lei because they also include the euro-denominated loans of 2009-2013.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)