Starting July 1, Moldova’s “First Home” program beneficiaries will pay a higher interest rate on their mortgage loans, up by 2.12 percentage points. Economic analyst and Expert-Grup Program Director Stas Madan warned about the growing risk of mortgage loan costs rising.
For example, a family with a 1 million lei mortgage loan over 25 years will see their interest rate rise from 6.9% to 9.02%, increasing their monthly payment from approximately 7,000 lei to 8,400 lei.
He attributes this increase to rising inflation, which has prompted the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) to implement a restrictive monetary policy, thereby increasing the overall cost of borrowing in the economy.
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However, the economist also noted that inflation is beginning to ease, and a reduction in mortgage interest rates may be possible in the first half of next year.
The NMB recently published updated reference rates, showing a rise in interest rates for new deposits in lei with terms of 6 to 12 months, from 3.7% in November 2024 to 5.82%. According to Madan, this increase directly impacts the First Home program, where the interest rate is adjusted every six months based on the average rates of such deposit contracts.
The program’s reference rate reflects market conditions and is recalculated periodically to align with the evolving economic environment.