Demand for housing loans still lower than in 2019

In August 2020, banks and credit unions sent inquiries for housing loans for an amount lower by 3.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the latest data from BIK. The current index reading clearly shows the continuation of the trend, i.e. the lower number of submitted applications in the next month compared to the same period last year, which is directly attributable to the coronavirus pandemic. Compared to July 2020, the number of applicants decreased by 15.7 percent. However, which is worth emphasizing, in relation to April 2020 (the weakest month this year) it increased by 17.4 percent.

In August 2020, a total of 32,660 customers applied for a housing loan, last year it was 35,070, which means a decrease by 6.8 percent. Average amount of the requested housing loan in August this year amounted to PLN 290,000 and was 4 percent higher than in the same month in 2019.

“While at the beginning of the holiday period we could observe a significant recovery of the index value from minus 24.2% in May 2020, through  minus 6.7% in June to  minus 3.5% in July, the August data clearly indicate some stabilization demand dynamics, which still maintains an upward trend,” Kinga Burcan, Credit Expert, Managing Partner at Trinity Finance, stated.

“We are currently witnessing a continuous increase in the average amount of the requested loan. In July 2020, it was already 4 percent higher than in the corresponding period last year. One of the immediate reasons for this is the fact that the pandemic most frustrated plans to purchase real estate for people whose economic situation was the weakest and who were targeting the cheapest real estate segment,” she added.

(WBJ)