For the fourth quarter of this year, banks plan to further tighten the criteria for granting housing loans and expect the upward trend in demand for them to continue, the National Bank of Poland announced in a report on the situation on the credit market published on Monday.
In the latest report entitled “The situation on the credit market, results of a survey to the chairmen of credit committees, Q4 2023”, NBP wrote that “in Q4 2023, banks do not plan to introduce significant changes to their lending policy. “However, they expect that the SME sector will once again will reduce the demand for short- and long-term loan financing (…), and large enterprises will increase the demand for short-term loans and maintain them at the current level for long-term loans,” it said.
Banks plan to tighten their criteria
It was recalled that banks tightened their lending policy in most segments already in the third quarter of 2023. It was explained that the reasons for this tightening were the deterioration of the quality of the loan portfolio and the macroeconomic outlook. It was added that changes in lending policy were accompanied by a decline in demand for most types of loans, with the exception of housing loans and short-term loans for large enterprises.
It will be more difficult to get a mortgage loan.Photocon/Shutterstock
As for housing loans, as indicated, banks plan to continue tightening the criteria while maintaining the current conditions for granting them. The motive for tightening the criteria – according to banks – is, among others, deterioration of forecasts of the economic situation, the quality of the loan portfolio as well as NBP decisions regarding monetary policy. It was noted that the increase in demand observed for several months is mainly due to the launch of the Safe Credit 2% program.
It will also be more difficult to get a consumer loan
Moreover, the report states that banks will also continue the process of tightening the criteria for granting consumer loans, initiated in the first quarter of 2022. “For the fourth quarter of 2023, banks announce that they will maintain the existing criteria for granting loans to enterprises and tighten them for households, and they expect an increase in demand for credit from large enterprises and households, and a decline from the SME sector,” it was indicated. It was recalled that in the third quarter of this year banks increased the requirements for securing loan repayment and reduced the maximum loan amount and shortened the maximum loan period.
Main photo source: fizkes/Shutterstock