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Home loans reach 184 million euros in August

Romanians have taken out home loans worth 184 million euros in August, up from a 3.8-percent contraction in July, ahead of the enforcement this month of a regulation of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) restricting access to personal loans, daily Business Standard reports.

Mortgage loans taken out by Romanians in August totalled 5 billion euros, up 63 percent year on year, slightly less than the 67-percent increases of the past years.

The 2-percent home loan contraction this July, the first in one and a half year generated by falling property prices and rising loan costs seemed to be the start of a tempering down on this segment, but August was a more spirited month in terms of loans.

'Romanians decided to hurry to take out home loans, because in August talk of the restrictive loan regulations were already around,' head of the Raiffeisen Bank Macroeconomic Research Department Ionut Dumitru told Business Standard.

The impact of the BNR regulation, which by the reckoning of specialists would reduce indebtedness by 15-20 percent will be visible in the fourth quarter of the year only. Head of the BNR Financial Stability Department Ion Dragulin says the new regulation could reduce the growth of crediting by 10-12 percentage points by the end of the year.

As of end-August, the loans taken out by corporations and individuals were standing at 52.27 billion euros, up 2.8 percent from the month before. As far as savings are concerned, a decline was recorded, with the ratio of bank deposits to loans having gone down from 83.03 percent in July to 81.69 percent in August. Outstanding instalments made up 9.44 percent of the total instalments due.

The weight of outstanding instalments into the total pool of personal loans exceeded the 1-percent mark for the first time this August, going from 0.98 percent in July to 1.04 percent in August. Analysts believes this indicator has no much relevance, as delays of just few days are included, but the situation, they say, could worsen. Individuals having taken out forex loans in August 2007, under easy terms, are paying instalments this October by up to 25 percent higher, on falling values of the local currency and rising interest rates. Loan default rate midyear was 4.71, compared with 4 percent in late 2007.

 

Sursa: http://www.rompress.ro

Tags: loans percent euros bnr