Consumer loan rates fall, home loan rates rise in September

Average rates for consumer loans fell 99bp to 17.82%, with APR decreasing 171bp to 25.36%, while rates for home loans dropped just 7bp to 9.46%. APR for home loans was at 12.18% in September, more or less unchanged from the previous month. Rates for personal loans rose 271bp to 11.95% in September, after falling 191bp in August. Rates on overdrafts averaged 20.3%, up 27bp last month.
Banks signed new contracts for Ft 21 billion of consumer loans, Ft 16 billion of home loans and Ft 5.6 billion of personal loans in September.
The average retail deposit rate on forint overnight deposits was 2.37% in September, unchanged from August. However, average rates on fixed deposits fell, with those fixed for over two years dropping a sharp 240bp to about 5%, after rising even more in the previous month. Households put just Ft 321.6 billion into forint fixed deposits in September, the lowest level in a year. The MBH noted that households had put a remarkably large amount into fixed deposits in the preceding month before the interest tax was raised from 0% to 20% on September 1.
Turnover on the forint interbank market was Ft 2,386.3 billion in September, Ft 875.6 billion less than in the previous month, the MNB said in its monthly rates report. The average turnover-weighted O/N lending rate was 7.01% during the month. The average rate for one-month money was 7.72% and the rate for three-month money was 7.88%.