According to Polish daily Parkiet, Polish banks granted about 74% more mortgage credits then year ago. The leader in the mortgage lending is still
PKO BP with PLN 3.6bn (up 71.4% y/y).
According to Parkiet, the leader is followed by Bank
Millennium (PLN 1.65 bn, up 84.8% y/y),
GE Moneybank (PLN 0.9bn, up 62% y/y) and MultiBank (PLN 0.7bn, up 108.6%).
Our view: Slowing dynamic of prices in real estate sector as well as increase of new apartment buildings were among main drivers in significant increase in mortgages in 1Q07. The news is in line with market statistic provided by NBP, which in February (latest data available) mortgage loans were up 62.9% y/y, with 63.4% FX denominated. We believe the news is positive for banks, however in our view the strong growth of the market is already priced in by the market with Polish banks trading at 2007F P/E of 20.7x and 2008F of 19.3x.