More than 60 percent of loans granted to Slovaks in the first quarter of 2008 were intended for housing purposes, with mortgages being the most popular type of lending, the Slovenská Sporiteľňa (SLSP) savings bank said on July 7.
Mortgages accounted for 43 percent of all housing loans (Sk95 billion/€3.14 billion) in 1Q08, with other types of housing loans making up 24 percent (Sk55 billion/€1.82 billion), construction loans 23 percent and home-equity loans 10 percent.
Slovakia and the Czech Republic have a loan structure typical for the European Union as a whole, with housing loans dominating, indicates Central European Bank (ECB) data for 2007. Hungary, Poland and Slovenia in contrast have a higher percentage of consumer loans, which are followed by housing loans and other lending in second and third places. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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