Economy

Poland’s banking sector recorded a historic year for mortgage lending in 2025, with the total value of loans exceeding 103 billion złoty, according to the latest AMRON-SARFiN report released on February 26, 2026.

The figure represents a 21 percent increase compared to 2024, marking the highest annual volume of mortgage lending in the country’s history. Banks signed 232,600 new mortgage agreements in 2025, a nearly 15 percent rise from the previous year and the highest number since the peak of the market in 2021.

Despite the growth in demand, the increase was described as “stable” by the report’s authors, who noted the absence of government subsidies and a backdrop of falling interest rates and rising wages. “It was a good year. A stable year,” said Dr. Jacek Furga, chairman of the committee responsible for the report, in a statement accompanying its release. Approximately 20 percent of new mortgages were refinances of existing loans.

The fourth quarter of 2025 saw banks issue over 64,000 mortgages totaling more than 29 billion złoty, a figure nearly identical to the previous quarter but significantly higher than the same period in 2024 – up 37 percent in terms of loan volume and 47 percent in value.

However, the total number of active mortgage agreements continued a four-year trend of decline, falling by over 90,000 to 2.14 million by the end of 2025, a decrease of 4 percent year-on-year. The report highlighted that the number of active agreements is now almost 400,000 lower than at the peak in late 2021.

Although the number of mortgages decreased, the overall value of the mortgage portfolio increased to over 512 billion złoty, rising 3.4 percent year-on-year. The average mortgage value also increased, reaching 455,000 złoty in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 6.6 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

Shifting borrower preferences were also noted in the report. Throughout 2025, there was a growing trend towards variable interest rate mortgages, with their share of new sales increasing to over 35 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 24.3 percent in the previous quarter. However, this shift was not reflected in the value of loans issued, with variable-rate mortgages still accounting for approximately one-quarter of total sales by value.

The report’s authors attributed this trend to the convergence of fixed and variable interest rate offers, leading borrowers to opt for variable rates in anticipation of further interest rate cuts.

The proportion of mortgages with shorter repayment periods also saw a slight increase, with nearly 33 percent of new sales having terms of 15-25 years, and 7.3 percent with terms of less than 15 years. Preferences regarding down payments remained stable, with 27.1 percent of sales involving deposits of less than 20 percent, and 47.8 percent with loan-to-value ratios between 50 and 80 percent.

Looking ahead, Dr. Furga predicted that interest rates could fall to 3.5 percent by the end of 2026, with a target rate of 3 percent potentially achievable in 2027. However, he cautioned that increased tax burdens on banks could limit their willingness to further reduce margins, potentially hindering significant declines in mortgage costs.