Poland's Mortgage Demand Is Still Up Year on Year — but August Cooled Sharply from July

Poland's mortgage market entered August with demand still comfortably above last year's level, but the month-to-month picture was much softer. According to the Credit Information Bureau (BIK), the value of housing-loan enquiries submitted by banks and credit unions, adjusted for the number of working days, was 9.3% higher than in August 2025.

The number of people applying for a housing loan was also 7.0% higher than a year earlier. Yet compared with July, the number of applicants fell by 14.4%. That contrast matters after July's record lending figures: annual growth remains positive, but the immediate pace of demand has cooled.

The average requested housing loan was PLN 525,700 in August. That was 7.2% higher than a year earlier but 2.4% below July's record level. In other words, both the number of applicants and the average amount requested moved down from the previous month even though both were still above last year's readings.

BIK cautions that the coming year-on-year comparisons will become harder because the reference months in 2025 already contained a recovery in mortgage demand. That base effect should mechanically pull the annual demand index lower even if the underlying market remains active.

There is another limitation. A mortgage application does not necessarily represent a fresh home purchase. BIK notes that part of current demand comes from borrowers seeking to refinance an existing housing loan. That distinction is especially important after the July lending record, when refinancing already accounted for a meaningful share of new mortgage volumes.

For the housing market, the August reading is therefore best treated as a forward-looking credit signal rather than a transaction count. It says households are still showing materially more mortgage interest than a year ago, but the monthly step-down suggests that the surge seen earlier in the summer should not be extrapolated mechanically into the autumn.

The next useful confirmation will come from actual mortgage originations and housing transactions. If approvals remain strong while applicant numbers stabilise, August may prove to be a seasonal pause. If the decline in applications persists, it would point to a more meaningful moderation in financing demand.