300m-euro real estate credits in November

Mortgage credits saw a strong increase in November, aided by the rebound of credits in foreign currency and reached a volume of 13.18 billion RON (3.77 billion euros), shows data from the NBR (National Bank of Romania). In November alone, funding for real estate investments climbed by 9.7%, while the annualised growth rate increased to 68%, the highest level registered over the last two years. The increase was fuelled by the rise of foreign currency credits, which made a 10.5% leap, to an equivalent sum of 11.7 billion RON (3.36 billion euros). The growth rate is, however, slightly distorted by the exchange rate, after the RON lost over 4% to the euro in November. Expressed in euros, the rise of the real estate credits would have been of slightly above 5%. Compared with November 2006, these loans saw a 77% increase, this being the highest annualised growth rate since the spring of 2005. In fact, the NBR decided to increase the monetary policy interest rate, arguing that the high rise of crediting encourages an already unsustainable consumption level.