Vyacheslav Ionitsa
This statement was made by the economic policy expert of IDIS “Viitorul” Veaceslav Ionita in his weekly program. According to him, starting from 2022, the number of mortgage loans issued is steadily increasing. In 2023, 4,100 loans will be issued, in 2024 – 7,400, and in the first half of this year – 4,400. “If this pace continues, by the end of the year, banks are likely to issue 9000 mortgage loans, and maybe even more,” the expert believes. In annual terms, their amount in 2025 may reach LE 10.9 billion, compared to LE 8.2 billion in 2024 and only LE 500 million in 2015-2016.
But it also recorded the lowest number of commercial transactions in the last fifteen years. In 2019, there were 38.5 thousand commercial transactions of apartments in Chisinau municipality. This is the highest indicator in the history of the real estate market. In 2024, 23.7 thousand transactions were registered, and in the first half of this year – 8 thousand transactions, which in annualized terms could amount to 21.1 thousand.
“I think there are several explanations. Some of the loans are issued outside Chisinau, some are taken against the collateral of housing, but used for other purposes. Some, not being able to confirm the origin of the money, resort to a mortgage loan, repaying it from the available savings,” Ionita believes.
In his opinion, the number of transactions has decreased due to excessive regulation in recent times, the small number of commissioned houses, as well as due to the rise in apartment prices. If at the beginning of 2015 the average cost of housing was 595 euros per square meter, at the beginning of 2024 – 1435 euros per square meter, at the beginning of 2025. – 1905 euros per square meter, which could discourage people who expected prices to decrease.
