OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2012. The total volume of loans and leases given to Estonian companies and households increased in November by 54 million euros. At the end of the month the loan and leasing portfolio stood at 14.7 billion euros, which was 1.9% more than a year earlier. Growth picked up in loans in spring of this year and has continued mainly due to high borrowing activity among companies. At the end of November the annual growth in corporate loans had accelerated to 5.8%.

The turnover in corporate loans in November was boosted by some individual large transactions. As a result of this, companies took a total of 217 million euros in long-term loans and leasing, or almost one-fifth more than the average for the second half of this year. Of these long-term loans, 27% went to the transport sector, where they were mainly used for large single transactions.

The volume of new housing loans was 22% higher than a year ago. The volume of housing loans issued each month has been quite stable since May this year and in November it reached 56 million euros. Given the generally moderate lending activity, the housing loan portfolio has also started to grow gently again, although the growth rate year-on-year is still negative.

With the EURIBOR rate decreasing, loan interest rates continued to decline. The average interest rate for housing loans issued in November fell to 2.5%, which is its lowest level in the past decade. The average interest rate for long-term corporate loans fell to 3.1%.

The decrease in problem loans continued at a fast pace. As in October, the number of overdue loans decreased largely as a consequence of uncollectible debt being written off from balance sheets. The percentage of loans overdue by more than 60 days in the loan portfolio fell from 3.8% to 3.5% in a  month.

The annual growth rate of deposits stood at 9.2%. During the month the deposits of Estonian companies and households grew by 63 million euros to 8.5 billion euros. The majority of the growth in deposits in November came from households.