Housing loans in Bulgaria up 25% a year: what BNB data says about the 2026 mortgage boom

Housing loans in Bulgaria are growing about 25% a year. According to the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB), banks held €19.328 billion in loans for house purchase at the end of August 2026, up 25.2% on August 2025. That is well ahead of house prices (+15.5% in Q2), although the pace has eased a little since January.

How fast is mortgage lending growing?

BNB monthly data show a slow cooling from very high levels. House-purchase loans grew 27.9% year on year in January (The Sofia Globe), 27.5% in March, 26.4% in June and 25.7% in July, before the August figure of 25.2%. All household loans rose 20.8% to €32.637 billion, and consumer loans 15.9%, the BNB reported on 25 September.

Why are Bulgarians borrowing so much?

Credit is cheap and has stayed cheap. The BNB’s interest rate statistics put the average rate on new housing loans at 2.42% in August 2026, almost the same as a year earlier (2.46%); the APR, which includes fees, was 2.81%. On our own arithmetic, at 2.42% a €100,000 loan over 30 years costs about €390 a month before fees.

Is the boom slowing?

There are early signs. The BNB says new housing loans in August came to €621.7 million, 6.5% less than in July and just 1.6% more than in August 2025. The stock of loans keeps growing, but the flow of new mortgages has flattened. Since October 2024, BNB limits cap new home loans at 85% of the property value, 50% of disposable income for repayments and 30 years.

What it means for Varna

Fast credit growth keeps demand for flats strong, and Varna is one of the country’s main housing markets. Prices have followed: Eurostat ranked Bulgaria second in the EU with +15.5% year on year in Q2 2026 (BTA), and NSI recorded +4.0% in Varna in Q1 2026 alone. When the loan stock grows faster than prices, more of the market is financed with debt, and buyers become more sensitive to any change in interest rates or incomes.

For district prices and the outlook for 2027, read our Varna property prices 2026 report. For the wider cost pressure, see inflation in September 2026. Foreign buyers can find the legal steps in buying property in Varna as a foreigner.

What comes next?

The BNB usually publishes monthly credit data about four weeks after the month ends, so September figures are due in late October 2026. We will update this page when they appear. This article reports official data and is not financial advice.