Romanian mortgage market records strongest first half in five years

Romania’s mortgage market recorded its best first half-year performance since 2020, with around 50,000 new mortgage loans granted nationwide in the first six months of 2025. The figure represents the highest level of activity in the past five years, according to an analysis by online broker Ipotecare.ro and mortgage lending company SVN Romania | Credit & Financial Solutions.

The total value of newly issued mortgages amounted to approximately €3.2 billion, up 60 percent compared with the first half of 2024. When including refinancing, conversions, transfers, and restructurings, the total volume of mortgage lending reached €5.56 billion, an increase of 26 percent year-on-year, according to data from the National Bank of Romania (NBR). At the end of June 2025, mortgage loans in payment stood at €22.7 billion, a 5.5 percent annual increase – more than double the growth rate recorded in 2024. SVN analysts expect the full-year growth rate to reach 7 to 8 percent, close to the peaks of 2021 and 2022.

“The first half of the year – particularly the second quarter – has been exceptional for the Romanian mortgage market, despite starting slowly amid uncertainty and political tensions. We expect the second half to continue on the same trajectory, with 2025 on track to set a new record,” said Alexandru Rădulescu, Managing Partner at SVN Romania | Credit & Financial Solutions, exclusive partner of Ipotecare.ro.

The average mortgage value in the first half of 2025 was €64,000, compared with €62,000 a year earlier. Households applying for mortgages through SVN Credit’s network reported an average monthly family income of around €2,500.

In terms of property preferences, 37 percent of clients purchased homes built between 2020 and 2025, while 33 percent chose properties delivered between 2010 and 2020. Roughly 10 percent opted for homes built between 1990 and 2010, and about 20 percent purchased dwellings completed before 1990.

Despite strong mortgage lending, housing transactions overall declined. Data from the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration (ANCPI), compiled by SVN Romania, show that nationwide home sales fell by 3.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2025.

SVN Romania brokered around 1,600 mortgage loans worth approximately €125 million in the first six months of 2025, operating from four offices in Bucharest and 24 branches in regional cities including Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Constanța, Timișoara, and Brașov.

Source: SVN Romania