Just over half (55%) of Bulgarians who do not live in their own home intend to buy one.

Nearly half of them point to the housing loan as the main means of financing it, according to a nationally representative online survey conducted by Gemius Bulgaria on behalf of Postbank.

The option of financing the purchase with own funds was ranked second, indicated by 25% of the respondents. 2% of them would use a loan from a friend or relative, and the remaining 25% would use a combination of home and consumer credit or own funds and home or consumer credit.

Enquiries for housing loans at Postbank have increased by over 50% since the beginning of the year compared to the same period last year. The most active is still the demand for housing in the major cities - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas, which account for about 75% of the new mortgage loan applications in the bank. The average loan size is also on the rise, reaching EUR 56,500 in the first five months of 2019 compared to EUR 51,200 in the same period last year.
46% of people who took part in the survey who have already taken out a home loan say that investing in real estate provides security and peace of mind for the future. The other reasons they gave for taking out a loan were the need for a home in a specific location (44%), the desire for independence (37%), an increase in family members (30%), and the ability to provide a home for their children (30%).

The study also shows that most often people with higher education, between 30 and 40 years old, married and with an average income of 900 to 2 thousand leva per month use a housing loan.

Despite the clear trend towards digitalisation and the increasing use of online services, the survey shows that 88% of consumers still prefer the bank office as the most commonly used place to apply for a loan, and a personal consultation with a banking expert is the main source of information.

source: imoti.net