Bulgaria mortgage volumes pull level with consumer loans
he size of the Bulgarian banks’ mortgage portfolio has now equalled consumer credits on their loan books, data of the central bank by the end of June 2008 shows.
Mortgage loans topped 6.765 billion leva by the mid-year mark, compared to 6.802 billion leva in consumer loans.
The share of mortgages in total household loans is up to 41.6 per cent from 25.8 per cent three years ago.
Mortgage lending has outpaced all other banking segments, posting end-June growth rates of 72.4 per cent and 74.6 per cent in 2006 and 2007, respectively. That momentum subsided somewhat to 64 per cent by the end of 2007 and then further to 53 per cent by mid-2008.