YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. Armenian mortgage market will make a rally in 2010, Manuk Yerghnyan, the head of Economy and Values Armenian Research Center, said Thursday in Novosti International Press Center.

“Mortgage loans are quite attractive to banks and other financial organizations, and if National Mortgage Company acts effectively, its work can give a new impetus to development of the market,” he said.

Yerghnyan thinks that changes in interest rates and terms on mortgage loans will heavily depend on inflation and degree of risk in the economy.

“It is still early to predict decrease in interest rates, but terms will be significantly changed,” he said.

The Central Bank of Armenia says in its quarterly review of Armenian banks’ activities that banks’ aggregate mortgage portfolio reached AMD 84 billion by late December 2009.

Mortgage loans made up 12% of the banking system’s credit portfolio in the fourth quarter 2009. ($1 = AMD 381.41). --0-