Demand for forint-based housing loans is again increasing among Hungarian credit institutions, and their percentage within new disbursements has reached 20-40pc, the business daily Vilaggazdasag said on Wednesday.

The bank officials interviewed by the paper attributed this to the emergence of new facilities competitive with forex-based loans on the one hand, and to the fall in forint rates seen in recent months.

Statistics from National Bank of Hungary support the banks' experience: figures show forint loans accounted for 27.1pc of the HUF 19bn in housing loans disbursed in December, a major increase from one or two years earlier. The cost of forint loans was also relatively attractive: the average interest rate calculated by the central bank fell to 9.70pc in December from around 12pc early last year, the paper said.

As regards prospective volumes, however, the bank officials interviewed by the paper are not very optimistic. Gergely Gyenes of Erste Bank expects to see a decrease in both the number and the value of the new contracts, particularly in the home- lending segment. Analysts of K+H and MKB Bank also predicted a slow and cautious recovery, possibly from the second half of 2010 or in 2011.