Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Mortgage affordability in Romania has remained broadly unchanged during 2026 as higher wages and slightly lower borrowing costs have largely compensated for further increases in Bucharest apartment prices, according to calculations from mortgage broker Ipotecare.ro. Its index shows that the monthly payment on a representative Bucharest home loan amounted to 55% of the national average net wage in July, compared with 54% at the beginning of the year.
The calculation is based on a 25-year mortgage for a 50 sqm one-bedroom apartment in Bucharest. Ipotecare.ro uses a property value of €117,500 for the index, representing an increase of 4.2% since the beginning of 2026. Over the same period, mortgage borrowing costs have eased marginally, with the average rate calculated at 5.50%, compared with 5.55% at the start of the year.
Income growth has been an important counterweight to higher residential prices. Romania’s average net wage in July was 5.5% above the level recorded a year earlier. Because earnings in Bucharest are higher than the national average, affordability looks stronger when the mortgage payment is compared specifically with incomes in the capital.
The average net wage in Bucharest reached €1,406 in July, according to the statistical data cited by Ipotecare.ro. On that basis, the monthly mortgage payment for the representative apartment accounts for approximately 43% of average net income in the capital, compared with 55% when measured against the national wage.
Ipotecare.ro expects little change at the beginning of 2027. Its calculations assume the average mortgage rate will remain close to 5.50%, leaving the payment-to-national-wage ratio at around 55%. The broker estimates that Romania’s IRCC consumer credit reference rate will stand at 5.58% in the first quarter of 2027, based on daily values available when the forecast was prepared.
The current affordability measure is similar to that recorded at the beginning of 2020, although both housing prices and incomes have changed substantially since then. Ipotecare.ro estimates that a comparable new Bucharest apartment cost €69,500 at that time, 41% below the current figure, while the national average wage was €668 and the average mortgage interest rate was 5.22%.
The figures indicate that Bucharest’s residential market has so far absorbed higher property values without a comparable deterioration in the income burden faced by mortgage buyers. However, a representative payment still consumes a substantial share of earnings, particularly when measured against national rather than Bucharest salaries. The direction of affordability in 2027 will therefore depend on the balance between apartment-price growth, household earnings and mortgage rates rather than house prices alone.
