BR Analysis. 77 pct of the apartments acquired in the first eight months of the year were bought through mortgages

The number of mortgages recorded on Romanian residential market reached 69,752 around 77 percent of the number of apartments sold in the first eight months of the year, of 87,674.

According to National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI), the number of mortgages, clasic or Prima Casa, started low, with 5,557 in January, peaked in March, with 11,998, decreased to 7,919 in August.

The decreased in August was in pace with the numbers of apartments sold in August, of 10,310. The total value of home credits contracted in the first eight months of 2018 was RON 4.3 billion, but includes the mortgages for houses and lands bought in the same period.

The morgages in 2018

January – 5,557 mortgages for apartments,
February – 8,899 mortgages for apartments,
March – 11,998 mortgages for apartments,
April – 8,704 mortgages for apartments
May – 9,521 mortgages for apartments,
June – 8,248 mortgages for apartments,
July 8,906 mortgages for apartments,
August – 7,919 mortgages for apartments.

The residential market short term future

Depending of the residential market evolution, the number of mortages will exceed 100,000 until the end of the year.

The problem of the market is that it seems fatigue. Residential buildings declined by 36.3 percent year-on-year in July, in August 2018, 4,059 building permits for residential buildings were released, down 8.4 percent from July 2018 and 8.1 percent down from August 2017 and even the sales lost 29 pct.

”In August 2018, 40,576 properties were sold across the country. The number of homes, land and flats that were the subject of sale-purchase contracts nationwide in the eighth month of this year is 16,410 lower than in August 2017, ” said ANCPI.

So, the signs are not good, and the first half of 2018 might be the swan song for residential market, hit by the workforce crisis and the increase of the borowing costs. Luckily, the two indicators could, at least partially, cancel each other. If the offer loose grpund because of the lack of workers, the rising prices coul keep the deman away, and this way might balance the market.

But a real equilibrium is impossible to find so, it won’t be a surprise if a crisis will shake the residential sector a little bit, especially the areas, as Cluj-Napoca, where prices lost their way more than one year ago.