Gimme shelter

Between mid-September and the end of the month, the average monthly installment of a mortgage loan jumped by zł.27 (for mortgages denominated in złoty) and zł.40 (for mortgages in US dollars), which experts say is a direct result of the crisis on world financial markets.

This occurred despite the fact that the National Bank of Poland's Monetary Policy Council (RPP) left interest rates unchanged in September. The base rate remains at six percent. "The market helped out the RPP," wrote experts from financial advisory Expander.

Last month, however, the three-month LIBOR rate for the US dollar jumped by over 0.65 percentage points - from 2.82 percent on September 15 to 3.48 percent on September 24. Experts said this had a significant impact on mortgage rates in Poland.

Moderate hikes took place for the euro and the Swiss franc - nine and 10 points, respectively.

According to a financial analysis by advisory Expander, when the whole of September is taken into account, the interest rate on mortgage loans dipped by 0.04 percentage points compared to August.

The average interest rate for a zł.200,000 mortgage denominated in złoty (no down-payment, 30 years) currently stands at 7.79 percent. In contrast, a zł.200,000 mortgage in Swiss francs - the most popular denomination among mortgage-takers - carried an interest rate of 4.35 percent in September.