The Central Bank has postponed, by a year, measures which had raised the bar for those wishing to borrow in order to buy a second home. 

In a statement on Monday, the bank said that in view of the negative impact of COVID-19 on the real estate market, it had postponed by a year amendments to a directive which specified that those who wanted to buy a second property with financing from credit institutions had to make a minimum 15% down payment. The amount was due to increase to 25% as from July 1, 2020 – but this is now being postponed by a year to July 2021.

The bank has also temporarily eased restrictions on the maximum extent of the permitted repayment burden by borrowers, set at 40% (of the applicant’s monthly income) in the directive. This limit is being relaxed for six months, provided that the borrower can demonstrate that the exceeding of this limit is temporary. This concession is totally at the discretion of the lender.

See the directive in full on pdf below.