Bigbank: Average Home Loan Contract Amount Made a Big Jump in December

The average home loan agreement concluded in December was 172,380 euros, which is 30% more compared to November's 131,678 euros and as much as 40% more compared to October's 122,349 euros, according to Bigbank's home loan portfolio analysis.

According to Arthur Taavet, Bigbank's Estonia director, the average contract amount has moved within a corridor of 120 to 140 thousand euros over the past year, which is why December's 172 thousand euros represents a significant increase. "I cannot point to a single reason, but above all, the smaller number of applications and contracts gave our loan team more time to analyze and complete more complex, larger-scale applications," explained Arthur Taavet, and added that compared to December of the previous year, the average loan amount also grew by more than a fifth.

According to Bigbank's director, the trend at the year-end was indeed a smaller number of contracts, which was compensated by an increase in contract amounts. "While we concluded 5% fewer contracts compared to November, thanks to larger contract amounts, the total volume of home loans issued grew by more than a fifth compared to the previous month," commented Taavet, and cited the longer holiday period than usual as one reason for the decrease in the number of contracts and applications.

According to the bank director, the increase is all the more remarkable because Bigbank has increasingly focused over the past year on financing home purchases for people who cannot get a loan from some of the major banks with foreign owners, and there we are dealing with below-average contract amounts. "Often the problem is not with the person or their income, but with the rigidity of large banks. A simple example is child benefits, which we count as part of income, but some other banks do not," explains Bigbank's director the differences in bank lending policies. "The moral is simple - all banks have the same euros, but it is certainly worth getting offers from multiple banks, and the first 'no' might turn into a 'yes' at other banks," added Bigbank's director.