Mortgage loans in Bulgaria have reached nearly EUR 17 billion – an absolute record in Bulgarian banking history, according to the latest data from the BNB’s monetary statistics. At the end of last year, the total granted mortgage loans amounted to EUR 16.8 billion, representing an over 28% increase on the year, the largest increase since September 2024.

A negligible share of these loans are non-performing ones (NPL) – just 0.63% of the total portfolio. This is a historic low since housing loan statistics began in the country. The data is from monetary statistics, which may differ slightly from that for supervisory purposes, but the trends in both align – new records in lending and a drop in NPLs. Traditionally, housing loans have had the smallest share of overdue payments, despite concerns that property prices are too high compared to incomes in Bulgaria.

In August 2024 the share of NPL mortgages fell to 1% of banks’ total portfolio for the first time and continues to decrease. In most months of the year, the decrease is also in absolute value, i.e., not just a drop in share due to the overall growth in lending (see the chart).

The trend for consumer loans is similar, but the share of NPLs is significantly higher, and the growth is more limited.

Corporate lending, excluding overdraft-type loans and those for financial enterprises, also shows a significant annual increase – 10.55% at the end of 2025. This is the largest increase in business loans since May 2009, and the NPLs share has fallen to 5.58%, also the lowest level since mid-2009. The total value of overdue consumer loans fell below 1 million BGN in October last year, and after a brief rise in November, they are again below this threshold a month later.