Banks in Poland selling fewer mortgages in 2011, down 49%

Does that mean prices of property will fall further down more?

“We actually do not know why this happened. June was always a good month. We're thinking that the market is reacting to what's happening on world markets,” said Wojciech Widenka, the chief of the mortgage management department at ING Bank Śląski.

"We actually do not know why this happened". Not a good sign.

We're thinking that the market is reacting to what's happening on world markets,” They think !

It seems joe public is wiser than senior bank management. I'm amazed that a chief of department has no clue as to what is going on.

Have you bothered to look at the stock markets this year. Fear is your answer. Everyone is scared to lend or borrow. If you read any loan agreement, it states clearly the "the lender is entitled to ask for full repayment of the loan on demand". In the present climate, nobody is sure that the banks have enough liquidity, government soveriegn debts are unmanageable and in serious risk of default. Polititions are lying to everyone.

People are going to sit on what money they have and wait to see if their currency will even be worth the paper its printed on.

Its not only mortgages, car shares have plummeted, along with all industries that supply non-essentials. You only have to look at German growth figures released this week, 0.2% and yet they were talking of record car sales to China.

The so called "stress tests" that were carried out on Banks a couple of weeks ago were aimed at giving confidence to the markets. When they failed to factor in the effects of a Greek default these tests were seen as a sham and the markets this week punished the banks.

I for one will certainly be waiting to see what happens over the next couple of months before committing any large sums of money for anything, let alone buying property. I am not so worried about Poland but the problems of when/how she will be affected by the situations of her EU partners.

that comment might be better directed at Mr. Widenka rather than myself. i have a good idea of what is going on. it's Mr. Widenka who has the problem understanding the market.

(assuming the language of the original quote is correct)

Or people are reacting to the overpriced property in Poland, as if Mr Widenka doesn't know this.

it;s gonna be even worse- there is a new law that puts much stricter conditions on granting mortgages

I know there cutting down with those phony grants but what's this you are talking about Gumishu?

And it's not a bad idea - demanding that mortgage criteria is based on 25 years lending will make things much more difficult, yet will ensure that people don't overborrow and end up in a mess financially.

Bear in mind that in many countries, owning property isn't anywhere near as popular - Switzerland and Germany come to mind.

Since an increasing number of Polish people cannot afford to buy houses, the price of real estate is expected to fall. Ansan Consulting financial consultant Andrzej Saniewski warns us that there are a great number of factors that are sure to have a negative impact on the market in the future

newzar.mekabima.com/?p=11474

talk about sensationalism.

shock horror

the sky is falling in

the sky is falling in

and the article is from when????

that is right it is from four months ago

you really are the epitamy of misery loves company aren't you

I believe that the prices will adjust but for you it is an obsession

Hey man, I'm only putting up an article that was not put up already,hardly an obsession. Hope I didn't ruin your weekend.

far from it

it made my weekend

hhahah good to hear it,enjoy.

you too mate, have a good one

This is rthe last sentence of the artical to which you refer:-

"It is expected that this summer (or even by late autumn), the government will pass a new act granting families financial support for buying a house."

That is really going to kill off the housing market.

How much would a 3 bedroom house cost in Poland these days in the Warsaw area?

how long is a piece of string, Warsaw area which part, how central... new or old....expect to pay million zlote plus

Yes, because it hasn't happened.

Government support for the housing market is stupid, the net effect to the recipients is to increase property values by the level of the subsidy.


Calm down, there is nothing in that article except some simple figures, i.e. a 20% cut in in families average mortgage capacity. Prices can fall another 20% to compensate. Easy.

I was being ironic

you are right

Neither has the 50-60% fall in prices that Milky has predicted for 3 years.

I am just being ironic.

we are all still waiting for the 50-60% prices fall that Milky has been predicting

It may well happen, but not on the time scale you both expect, with 5% inflation all you have to do is stay at the same level for a few years.

Still, I don't have any solid opinion on the matter in Poland, the best advice to a potential house buyer is wait and see until the world economy recovers in a few years.

CEE growth negatively affected by euro and global economic slowdownback

Average real GDP growth will slow down to 2.3 per cent in 2012 (3.2 per cent in 2011) in CEE; higher growth rates compared to the eurozone in the medium term

Bond and exchange markets under pressure
General environment still burden for equities

rbinternational.com/eBusiness/rzb_template2/677226413664515143-NA-767669220350533656-NA-10-EN.html

just heard on TV Polonia that real estate will fall by 50%!!!!.... I suspect they mean in the city area's.. not in the country... interesting.... they reason they sight is that banks will not lend money as a new financial crisis is upon us?

Which I have been explaining to the morons for the past two years. If you check the posts, it was also some 2 years ago that I explained that the developers would produce smaller flats so that they would remain in a price bracket that was acceptable to the banks. The market will always adapt, but, at the end of the day, profit still has to be made.

PF members who still believe there won't be any Real Estate crash in Poland have not watched this programm.
The prices for Real Estate in Poland has increased in a surrealistic way in some regions for 4 years and for instance Krakow is more expensive than Berlin when salaries in Germany are at least twice as high as in Krakow

If banks don't lend anymore, new developments are sitting unsold and empty, it does not look good for clients exept for those who have cash and will be able to get great bargains.

But bear in mind that unemployment in Berlin is really not doing well - the city is bankrupt, there's a lot of youth unemployment (one statistic I found suggests 1/3 young people are on welfare) and while it's very popular with tourists, it's got very little in the way of manufacturing/production/etc.

You can't compare the two - Krakow doesn't have the same problems that Berlin has. Young people in Poland often move to Krakow to work - with Berlin, they move away.

It's the same reason why property is more expensive on the Polish side of the Oder/Neisse - there's no shortage of work in Poland, but a dire lack of work in Germany.

Here are the reasons why I refused the offer of a mortgage a few years ago. My wife and I had applied for a loan to carry out the second stage of building our house, and had been granted 110 000PLN, to be paid in two tranches. After we'd read the contract we refused to sign it because of the unacceptable demands and greed of the bank.

1. We were told that we both had to open current accounts with the bank (not our regular bank) and that at least 70% of our income would have to go through these accounts.

2. The bank provided a list of stages that we would have to follow while finishing the project. Some of these stages were illogical, e.g laying underfloor heating pipes first, and then putting insulation on top, thereby keeping the heat below the floor. These demands would have taken away our right to adapt our plans as we went along, and would have imposed a rigid and inflexible timetable. Furthermore, any deviation from the bank's timetable would have resulted in fines. The bank demanded complete control, and we were not prepared to hand that over.

3. The bank was to release the first trance of 50% of the money and then issue the second tranche when that money had been spent. But we would have started paying interest on the full amount from the day the first tranche was issued. We would have been paying interest on money we didn't have.

4. Only interest could be paid in the first year. We would not have been able to make payments on the capital.

The bank staff were astonished that we had refused the mortgage. "All the banks offer the same terms!" the assistant manager yelped.
"Maybe so," I replied, "but that doesn't make it morally right."
So we hunkered down and took a bit longer to build. For me banks are simply usurers.

we have a mortgage with mbank- we didn't go through this hassle at all. when we sold our previous house we had a bunch of people come from the bank to take photos - it seems to me this was more of an insurance thing. We have owned two houses in Poland that required mortgages and neither time did we go through the hassle you described. When we bought our second place there was a long waiting time before we got approved- the bank went through all of mine and husbands financial details with a microscope.