Mortgage lending in Armenia up 13% to 189.7 bln AMD

The mortgage loans provided by the Armenian financial organizations to the residents totaled 189.7 bln AMD by 1 May 2015 (13% year-over-year growth). The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) reports that the growth for April 2015 was 0.9%.

 

In the aggregate loan book of the financial organizations, the share of mortgage loans made up 8.2%. In particular, the mortgage lending in the banks' loan book was 8.3%, with the share in the credit companies' loan book being 7%.

 

The share of the banks in the mortgage portfolio was the biggest - 90% or 170.7 bln AMD (15.5% year- over-year growth, 0.8% rise for April alone). 

 

The share of the mortgage loans provided by the credit companies was 10% or 19 bln AMD (5.7% year- over-year decline, 1.7% rise for April alone). (On April 30, 2015, the AMD/USD exchange rate was 476.42 

AMD/$1).

 

By the CBA data, there are 21 banks and 27 universal credit companies in Armenia. All the banks and more than half of the credit companies are operating on the mortgage market. Two credit companies are specializing in mortgage lending ("First Mortgage Company" UCO and "Fides" Mortgage Company). Two more companies are specializing in refinancing of mortgage loans ("National Mortgage Company" UCO and "Affordable Housing for Young Families" UCO).

 

In Jan-Apr 2015, the interest rate of mortgage loans rose from 12.1% to 13.1%.