• CREDIT 2%

    2% loan and the real estate market

    The 2% loan was intended to significantly facilitate the purchase of a flat for all those who are unable to buy it in cash and at the same time cannot afford to repay a high-interest loan. Its aim was also to stimulate the real estate market. Did this actually happen?

    What is a 2% loan?

    A 2% loan is the so-called Secure loan for housing purposes. It is regulated by the provisions of the Act of October 1, 2021 on family housing loans and safe 2% loans (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2023, item 859, as amended).

    It can be granted by any bank that has been authorized to do so on the basis of an agreement concluded with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, whose role is primarily to ensure the operational management of interest rate subsidies. However, all formalities related to granting a safe loan are handled directly by the lending bank, so the borrower has contact with it.

    Currently, the list of banks that are authorized to do so is as follows:

    • Alior Bank,
    • BPS Bank,
    • Cooperative Banks of the BPS Association,
    • Environmental Protection Bank,
    • Pekao,
    • Bank Spółdzielczy Rzemiosła in Krakow,
    • Cooperative Bank in Brodnica,
    • Krakowski Bank Spółdzielczy in Kraków,
    • mBank,
    • PKO BP,
    • SGB – Bank,
    • Cooperative Banks Associated with SGB - Bank,
    • VeloBank,
    • Wschodni Bank Spółdzielczy in Chełm,
    • Santander Bank Polska.

    Importantly, the entire procedure in this regard is basically the same as when granting any other mortgage loan.It is therefore necessary to meet the requirements specified in the internal procedures of a given bank and, above all, to provide documentation:

    • determining the borrower's financial situation,
    • indicating his sources of income,
    • containing information about the property whose purchase is to be financed.

    However, it is necessary to complete additional forms required for the 2% loan program. The qualification process itself takes place without the participation of the applicant, who is only informed about the final result.

    For what purposes is a 2% loan granted?

    A safe 2% loan is granted to cover all or part of the borrower's expenses that are used to meet his housing needs, i.e. those related to ensuring the necessary "roof over his head".

    However, it must be remembered that the condition for receiving it is that the latter be related to:

    • construction of a single-family house, including its finishing,
    • acquiring ownership of land or part of it in order to build such a house on it,
    • acquisition of ownership of a residential premises or a single-family house, including its finishing,
    • implementation of a housing investment by a housing cooperative by its member,
    • acquiring the cooperative right to a residential premises or a single-family house, also if they constitute a construction contribution and for purposes related to the finishing of such real estate.


    The above-mentioned housing cooperative is a group of natural persons who have decided to jointly purchase a building plot and build a single-family house or a multi-family building with apartments on it for the purpose of living.

    You must know that the 2% loan granted is secured by a mortgage, including the one established only after the construction of a single-family house or the separation of ownership of a residential premises for which installments are or were entitled to a subsidy.

    In terms of the creditworthiness of applicants, an important event was the adoption in June 2023 by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority of an amendment to Recommendation S addressed to banks, which concerns good practices in the management of mortgage-secured credit exposures. According to it, the management board of a bank participating in the implementation of a government program, based on a detailed risk assessment, should adopt an approach to assessing creditworthiness that takes into account the specificity of the program in question. This applies in particular to calculating the amount of principal and interest installments to be paid by the borrower after taking into account the amount of subsidies estimated by the bank resulting from the government program and determining the level of the interest rate buffer for these loans. Thanks to the solutions included in Recommendation S, the creditworthiness of applicants has increased on average by up to 30-40%, which, of course, significantly facilitates obtaining a 2% loan.

    What are the conditions for granting a 2% loan?

    A 2% loan may be granted provided that on the day it is granted, the borrower:

    • did not have and does not have ownership rights to a residential premises or a single-family house.
    • there is not and was not entitled to a cooperative right to a residential premises or a single-family house.

    Another condition is that such rights are not available to a person who runs a household together with the borrower. An additional criterion requires that the borrower is under 45 years of age on the day of submitting the loan application. If there are two borrowers, this condition must be met by at least one person. Two people can benefit from the Safe 2% loan only if they are married or are raising at least one child in the household of both of them.

    In addition to the above conditions, the described loan can only be obtained by a borrower who:

    • runs a household within the territory of the Republic of Poland or outside it, if he has Polish citizenship or is a foreigner, but he runs the household together with a person with Polish citizenship, and the loan is granted to him together with that person,
    • on the day of submitting the loan application, he is not and has not been a party to another mortgage loan agreement concluded within 36 months prior to its submission in order to cover expenses incurred in connection with the purchase of a residential premises, a single-family house or a cooperative right to a residential premises or a single-family house. This requirement does not apply when such an agreement has been terminated.

    You must know that a safe 2% loan cannot be obtained to repay an apartment previously purchased with another loan by refinancing it.

    How high can a 2% loan be?

    The amount of a 2% safe loan cannot exceed PLN 500,000 or PLN 600,000 if the borrower runs a household with his or her spouse or includes at least one child.

    The loan itself is subject to an interest rate of 2%. The interest rate is set for a period of 60 months and is fixed during the period covered by subsidies to its installments.

    The described loan may be granted:

    • without or with the borrower's own contribution, but not higher than PLN 200,000,
    • in Polish currency,
    • for a period of at least 15 years.

    The borrower's own contribution is his own funds intended to cover part of the expenses covered in the remaining part with a safe loan of 2%. If it was granted to cover expenses incurred in connection with the construction of a single-family house, the own contribution may also be land property belonging to the borrower and not encumbered by the loan.

    Loan subsidies 2%

    In accordance with applicable regulations, government subsidies to the 2% loan cover the first 120 principal and interest installments, repaid in accordance with the schedule. Thanks to them, the subsidized installment is reduced by its amount for a period of ten years.

    Therefore, the subsidy program covers the first ten years of loan repayment. They are financed from the Government Housing Fund, established within the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.

    During the period covered by subsidized installments, the capital part of the loan is repaid in equal parts determined taking into account the entire repayment period.

    After the subsidies expire, repayment is made in equal installments, unless the borrower submits an application to maintain the current repayment method.

    After ten years, when the subsidies cease, the safe 2% loan will bear interest at a variable rate.

    The amount of the surcharge will be calculated according to the formula:

    Additional payment = loan balance * (W-2%)/12

    where "W" means the average quarterly interest rate applicable on the date of determining the interest rate for a safe loan of 2%.

    2% loan and the housing market

    The 2% loan program started in July 2023, and demand has exceeded all expectations. According to the data provided by the BGK representative, by the end of November a total of 72.4 thousand had been received by the banks participating in it. applications, and the number of signed contracts amounted to 44.4 thousand.

    Paradoxically, all this brought results rather unplanned by the legislator.

    First of all, although no limit was introduced in 2023 on the number of submitted applications, subsidies for granted loans are charged to the pool planned for the next twelve months. As a result, the funds reserved in the government program for 2024 are currently running out. Of course, this will drastically reduce access to 2% credit in the coming year.

    Moreover, on the one hand, real estate prices increased significantly, and on the other hand, there was a serious reduction in supply on the market, which resulted in a sharp decrease in the number of apartments for sale. According to the AMRON - SARFiN report, in just two months, apartment prices increased by 5% in Warsaw, by 7% in Krakow, and by over 6% in Wrocław.

    Data presented by Morizon and Gratka show that the largest reduction in the number of apartment sales offers in July 2023 was recorded in the following cities:

    • Warsaw - 33%,
    • Krakow - 28%,
    • Wrocław - 25%.

    In turn, according to the Otodom portal, on June 1, 2023, its database contained a total of over 136,000. apartment sales advertisements, and at the end of July 2023 their number dropped to approximately 127,000 and in mid-September to 120,000.

    The launch of the 2% loan program also resulted in a number of negative effects, seemingly peripheral in nature, but painful for borrowers. The most important ones include:

    • extension of the waiting time for a bank to grant a loan due to the need to consider a significantly increased number of applications,
    • reduced availability of property appraisers and companies dealing with finishing and renovation works, caused by a radical increase in demand for their services.

    The above means that the government's 2% loan program is quite controversial, and the number of unfavorable effects for borrowers is basically equal to the positive ones. Therefore, it is worth keeping a close eye on its further consequences, because applications, according to the assumption adopted by the legislator, can be submitted by all interested parties until 2027.