BRATISLAVA, February 29, (WEBNOVINY) – At the end of last year, the volume of defaulted housing loans reached EUR 355 million. Compared with the end of the previous quarter, their volume slightly shrank, according to the National Bank of Slovakia. Banks and home saving banks improved their loan portfolios in the last quarter of last year by the sale or transfer of a portion of defaulted loans to other sectors. This practice was common mainly with mortgage loans and home construction loans and interim loans. In quarterly terms, only the volume of defaulted real estate loans increased. “As the volume of defaulted loans in the sector increased and the volume of loans grew, too, the portion of defaulted loans on overall real estate loans decreased by 0.1 percentage point,” the central bank commented.
In the last quarter of 2011, banks provided real estate loans of EUR 992 million, up EUR 65 million in yearly terms. The central bank attributes the growth in interest to declining real estate prices and still relatively favorable financing conditions. The portion of other real estate loans rose to 70 percent, while the portion of mortgages and home construction loans decreased. Interest rates stabilized at around 5 percent in the fourth quarter. Interest rates on mortgages declined the most, while interests on home construction savings rose.
SITA
