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Foreigners drive Polish mortgage boom to PLN 25.7 bn – BIK

30.07.2025 11:00
More than 265,000 foreign citizens owed Polish banks PLN 25.7 billion (€6 billion) in loans at end‑June, with mortgages accounting for over 80% of the total, credit‑bureau BIK said on Wednesday.
File photo.
File photo.Photo: Grand Warszawski/shutterstock

Foreign borrowers now hold 8% of Poland’s banking loan book, BIK’s Business Intelligence head Sławomir Nosal told business daily Puls Biznesu.

Mortgages make up 82% of their debt, cash loans 14% and credit cards, installment plans and other products the remaining 4%.

Mortgage sales to non‑Polish customers jumped from PLN 3.43 billion in 2023 (7.7% of all home‑loan originations) to 5.79 billion in 2024 (8.3%).

n the first half of 2025 they reached PLN 3.60 billion, or 7.9% of total sales, setting the stage to top 6 billion for the year if momentum holds, Nosal said.

Ukrainians and Belarusians dominate demand. At end‑June, 184,000 Ukrainians owed PLN 13.6 billion, 78% in mortgages, while 24,000 Belarusians owed 4.2 billion.

Other notable groups included Indians and Russians (5,000 each), Turks and Georgians (3,000 each), and smaller numbers from Germany, Britain, Italy and France. Borrowers from 32 other nations held a combined PLN 4.4 billion.

Ukrainian borrowers, concentrated in major western cities, are servicing their debts well, Nosal said. Their mortgage non‑performing‑loan ratio is just 0.5%, and repayment of non‑bank loans is also stronger than among Polish borrowers, though cash‑loan performance is weaker.

(jh)

Source: PAP