In a bid to alleviate the financial strain on borrowers grappling with soaring interest rates, the Polish government has unveiled plans to extend the mortgage moratorium until the end of 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.
Initially introduced in 2022, the existing moratorium allowed mortgage holders to defer four monthly payments in both 2022 and 2023, with no specific income criteria in place. However, the current regulations are set to expire at the end of 2023.
On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office revealed that the moratorium initiative would be prolonged into 2024, albeit with the introduction of income criteria. Under the proposed bill, borrowers will be eligible for the repayment suspension if the capital amount of the loan granted does not exceed PLN 400,000 (EUR 90,000), according to a statement released on the PM’s Office website.
For borrowers with loans exceeding PLN 400,000 but less than PLN 800,000 (EUR 180,000), the mortgage moratorium will still be accessible if their capital and interest repayment costs surpass 50 percent of the average monthly income, the statement clarified.
This extension comes in response to the significant increase in Poland’s interest rates, which surged to 6.75 percent this year, up from near zero just two years earlier. To address the economic challenges, the Central Bank reduced the rates to 6 percent in September, followed by another cut to 5.75 percent earlier this month.