Petro Oleynik
According to the cadastre data, in the first quarter of 2025 the number of sales and purchase transactions of apartments in Chisinau mun. Chisinau amounted to 2884 and decreased compared to the first quarter of 2024 by almost 28% (3993 transactions). At the same time, the number of mortgage contracts increased during the analyzed period by 30,7% (1768 contracts and 1353 respectively).
At the same time, the share of mortgage contracts in the total number of transactions for sale and purchase of apartments increased from 33% to 60% during the analyzed period.
According to the director of real estate agency Nika Imobil Petr Oleinik, the decrease in the number of transactions is quite understandable. The prices have grown quite significantly, and according to the market law, the growth of prices causes a decrease in demand. People lack their own resources, so they turn to banks for a loan.
According to the expert, the share of 60% of mortgages in sales contracts shows that this factor has a very strong influence on the real estate market. It turns out that this market today is formed by banks. They give loans – demand grows, but prices also grow. If they do not give loans, the situation is the opposite.
In addition, in recent years, the picture of buyers has changed. If earlier they were mostly guest workers, today they are people who work in Moldova and are not going to leave.
“Our assumptions that the price increase is caused by the launch of the Prima casa program are confirmed,” says Petru Oleinic. – When we do real estate valuation, there is a very important adjustment factor – “correction for financing conditions”. The better they are, the higher the value of the object. When “Prima casa”, especially its updated version, offered a whole range of benefits that never existed, the market exploded. And this all happened against the backdrop of high rents last year, when it became profitable to buy apartments for investment purposes. That is, the decision was made without calculating the consequences for the market. And it is not excluded that the lobbying of the banking sector was involved”.
He believes that it was absolutely normal when favorable mortgages were used by civil servants – teachers, doctors, young families. It was a privilege for those with small salaries. And when practically all restrictions were removed, we got the current situation.
