Mortgage lending in Romania contracted in July, for the first time in the last year and a half, with its volume down 1.7%, to 17 billion RON (4.8 billion euros), Ziarul Financiar reported, citing data from the National Bank of Romania.

Bankers were talking about a slowdown in mortgage lending as early as this summer, amid uncertainties concerning the real estate market. Many clients preferred to put off buying a home, amid signs of prices going down, especially for old apartments.

Over the last few months, we have seen a stable trend, with retail lending up by around 110 million euros. We have not witnessed dramatic declines from month to month, however, sales are up to 20% lower than in the same time last year," says Alin Merer, marketing manager of Volksbank, one of the players with an active presence on the market of real estate funding.