Romania has one of the lowest volumes of housing loans as a share of GDP, being for instance six times lower than Poland in absolute terms, according to a study published by Romanian developer STC Partners.
Furthermore, Romania is one of the few countries where housing loans have increased as a share of GDP since 2010 at a steady rate, which shows that the mortgage market is under-developed.
“Housing loans as a share of GDP hit an all-time high in 2022 (close to 9%), but the growth in loans has been smooth in the last decade, nothing unlike the times preceding the housing bubble of 2008 when housing loans balance grew by more than 50% every year in the preceding years of the crisis. A growth slowdown was already observed in 2022 vs 2021, which is expected to continue in 2023,” according to the report.
Data from the European Mortgage Federation shows that housing loans in Germany have a share of 49% from the country’s GDP, similar to France. Spain has a share of 40%, while among CEE countries Czech Republic has the biggest share of 26% of housing loans in the GDP.
