Mortgage sales freeze again

The first autumn month was slower than the summer months in terms of loan sales, and bankers, busy assimilating Ordinance 50, have been late in coming up with promotional offers. Economic uncertainty also cut demand for "First Home".
The total amount of mortgage loans in September rose by only 14m euros, to the equivalent of 6.57bn euros, as manly clients sought to have their older loans refinanced and not new investments funded. The mortgage growth rate was five to seven times lower in September than in previous months, according to NBR data.
Despite the slower growth pace, mortgage loans are still the most dynamic segment of the retail market, with a volume increase of 21% or the equivalent of 1.19bn euros over the past year.
Last year and in the first months of 2010, housing loans were strongly supported by the "First Home" scheme, with the state issuing guarantees worth around 1.2bn euros for the loans released as part of the programme. The second part of the programme no longer had the expected success, so that the number of people resorting to it has constantly declined in recent months.