19:25 11 August 2020
Interest rate on housing loan in Poland almost most expensive in Europe
The average interest rate on a housing loan in Poland is 3.8 percent. This is the third highest result in this respect in Europe and much higher than in other countries on the continent, according to a report by the consulting company Deloitte.
Deloitte collected data for 2018 and 2019 from residential markets in 23 European countries. Housing loans were more expensive only in Hungary, where the average interest rate reached 4.6 percent and in Ireland, where the recorded result amounted to 4.1 percent.
Portugal is at the other extreme, with the average mortgage interest rate in 2019 only 1.1 percent, as well as France (1.2 percent) and Slovakia (1.4 percent).
According to Deloitte analysts, the fact that we still use the national currency may have an impact on the exceptionally high loan prices in Poland. Commercial banks, which raise most of their funds in euros or dollars, are to compensate for the costs related to the exchange rate risk with the help of higher interest rates.
This tendency is confirmed by the fact that the national currency is used in four out of five countries with the highest loan interest rates (Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Israel).
