Nordea tops the PZFD bank ranking

Among the 29 banks listed in the fourth ranking of financiers by the Polish Association of Developers (PZFD), Nordea Bank rose from 10th position last year to first this year. Developers judged the banks on the basis of the time it takes to make decisions on granting loans and on contractual conditions. In the ranking, Nordea also enjoyed the highest growth in points awarded over last year. However, despite Nordea Bank's popularity, most developers continue to cooperate with banks PKO BP and BPH.

"The ranking shows how the market is developing. We are happy that the number of loans and the quality of banking operations are increasing. Banks are becoming more and more open and efficient, and we, most of all, care about the liquidity of our investments," says Jarosław Szanajca, president of PZFD.

In 2005, Polish banks granted loans to developers worth some zł.2 billion, compared to zł.24 billion granted in mortgages. Both figures increased last year and reached zł.3 billion and zł.33 billion respectively.

Marek Poddany, deputy president of PZFD, says that banks are finding it hard to increase the value of loans taken by developers. "For the last couple of years it has amounted to about 10 percent of the value of mortgages. Some 90 percent of developments are still financed by future residents," he claims.

According to Szanajca, this situation will not change unless the number of available plots rises, but he sees little prospect of that.

"If this doesn't change, however, prices will grow and that may reduce demand. It would be good if prices didn't rise by more than 20 percent," says Poddany. "Anything higher than that would be dangerous for the market because the borrowing power of bank customers would fall," he adds.