The Superintendency of Banks of Panama (SBP) reported that the portfolio of new mortgage loans under the preferential interest regime registered a drop of 34% between January and April of this year, a figure that is generating concern among actors linked to the housing and construction sector.
Report on Banks in Panama
According to the report, the decrease reflects a lower placement of financing for the purchase of homes covered under this state benefit. “That hasn’t taken off yet. Even though the law was amended, there was an issue where it was previously stated that 2% of the transfer fee was levied on new housing, so it seems that this is now being resolved, and hopefully between now and next year I think we’ll see another surge in that area. At the moment it’s still stagnant,” said Milton Ayón Wong, Superintendent of Banks.
For his part, Javier Motta, director of Financial Stability at SBP, agreed that by the end of the year, there could be an improvement in the granting of both preferential and non-preferential mortgage loans. “We analyze the outstanding loan balances, which are growing by around 1%, however the indicator for new loans is not very positive; there is a decrease mainly in the preferential portfolio, which had a drop of 34%. We know the problems that occurred with the law,” he explained.
Increase in the Loan Portfolio
In parallel, the loan portfolio registered growth. “The main asset within the balance sheet structure, which is the loan portfolio, maintaining a 65% share, had an average growth of 3%, leveraged mainly by foreign loans that grew around 10.5%, primarily placements or loans to countries like Colombia and the Latin American region,” Motta added. The behavior of this indicator will be closely monitored during the coming months, as it is considered one of the main indicators of real estate activity and the ability of Panamanians to access housing finance.
