Banks approved mortgages worth Sk28.4 billion (€850 million) in Slovakia last year, bringing the total amount since this type of loan was introduced fully in 1999 to Sk116.2 billion, the Slovak central bank (NBS) said on February 6.
Borrowers concluded 19,631 mortgage contracts in 2007, taking the total number to 111,788. In all types of mortgages, clients drew Sk94.4 billion to the end of 2007, meaning an annual increase of Sk18.5 billion. The amount of unsettled mortgage principal rose by Sk15.3 billion to Sk83.4 billion.
In 2007, banks issued Sk15.9 billion worth of mortgage-deposit certificates, representing 96.25 percent of total unsettled mortgage principal. This brought the value of all mortgage-deposit certificates since mortgages were introduced to a total of Sk80.9 billion. Tatra Banka became the leading mortgage provider last year, with a 34.59-percent market share. It was followed by VÚB (28.58 percent), OTP Banka Slovensko (8.65 percent), Slovenská Sporiteľňa (8.29 percent), Istrobanka (4.96 percent), UniCredit (4.31 percent), Voklsbank Slovensko (3.6 percent), ČSOB (3.54 percent), and Dexia (3.48 percent). TASR
p>Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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