Banks and credit unions sent to the Credit Information Bureau (BIK) in October a request for housing loans for an amount higher by 254% than a year earlier, BIKe reported. The number of applications increased by 197% y/y to 41,35 thousand, while on a monthly basis increased by 13%.
The average value of the requested housing loan in October this year amounted to PLN 421,000 (the most in history) and was 25% higher than in October 2022. Compared to September 2023, it increased by 0.9%, BIK reported.
“The demand for housing loans is very high. Potential borrowers submitted credit applications in October this year for a value of two and a half times higher than a year ago. The Popytus Index remains at historically the highest levels. There are several reasons for such a high value of the Pots index. The first is the larger number of people applying for a housing loan, which increased from 14,000 in October last year to 41,400 in October this year. This is largely the result of a high interest in housing credit under the ‘Credit 2%’ program. 59% of people applying for a housing loan in October this year are people up to the age of 45 years, not having a housing loan, submitting an application for a loan up to the amount of PLN 600,000 in a bank participating in the program,” said Sławomir Nosal from BIK.
He added that there is also a growing demand for housing loans among potential borrowers who, for formal reasons, cannot be beneficiaries of the program, but their creditworthiness as a result of a real increase in wages, a decrease in the WIBOR rate both in response to the reduction of the NBP reference rate by 0.75 percentage points, as well as pending further decreases in interest rates. As a consequence, the availability of housing loans is now greater than it was just a few months ago, which directly contributed to the increase in demand.
“Intertelling the reading of the Index, it must be remembered that in October 2022, a housing loan applied for relatively few people, causing a low comparison base for October this year. It is the statistical effect of the low base from October 2022 that is partly responsible for such a high current BIK reading of the Pots index,” Nosal pointed out.
He noted that an important factor is also the increase in the average amount of the loan applied for to a record value of PLN 421 thousand – this is an amount by 1/4 higher than in October 2022. Such a high value results both from the increase in real estate prices and the fact that a large part of people who want to use the “Qred of 2%” program submits applications for amounts similar to the upper level of the limit in this program (PLN 500 thousand for singles and PLN 600,000 for marriage).
“In the coming months, high demand for housing loans should continue due to the high interest of customers with the ‘Creditd 2%’ program and the increasing amounts of the loan applied for as a result of the increase in property prices, as well as a low comparative base from the end of 2022 and the beginning of this year” – he concluded.
Source: BIK and ISBnews
