Transactions on sale, purchase of flats increase by ten per cent in Moldova in 2018

Chisinau, 1 February /MOLDPRES/ - The number of transactions on sale and purchase of flats increased by 10.7 per cent in 2018 against the year before, up to 20,407, according to data put out by the Public Services Agency (ASP). In 2017, 18,422 flats were traded.  

According to official statistics on the real estate market, last year, an increase in transactions with private houses was recorded. ASP data shows that 7,850 operations on sale and purchase of private houses were registered. The transactions on the primary market amounted to 14,789 apartments and more than 10,000 private houses.   

The cheapening of loans for real estate, launch of the First Home state programme and the increase of residents’ incomes gave an impetus to the real estate development.  

The average rate of interest on bank loans, provided to private people for real estate, decreased from 7.53 per cent annually in January 2018 to 6.40 per cent in late last year and the monthly sum of credits borrowed by residents doubled last year. The commercial banks in 2018 provided loans for real estate amounting to 1.8 billion lei, according to data by the National Bank of Moldova (BNM).  

„Citizens have increased interests in mortgage loans – we have lower interests, support programmes of the state, etc. The increase in mortgage loans is due, besides other factors, also to the implementation of the First Home state programme with social benefits, which sees possibility for Moldova’s citizens with ages from 18 to 45 years to get credits for buying their own dwelling,” BNM Governor Octavian Armasu has said in an interview for media. Armasu also said that, at the situation from 30 November 2018, the balance of credits provided for the purchasing/construction of real estate stood at 3.8 billion lei, which accounts for 10.7 per cent of the portfolio of loans in the sector.  

Finance Minister Ion Chicu today wrote on a social network that about 3,000-3,500 young people would become beneficiaries of the First Home programme in 2019. In last January, we have already over 210 new beneficiaries, which confirms the monthly average estimated by us for 2019 – 250-270 new beneficiaries,” the minister said. More than 1,300 young families have become beneficiaries of the programme so far.