A Mortgage in Romania When Your Income Is in Shekels: How Much the Bank Will Approve and What Happens When the Rate Moves

Three questions recur among Israeli buyers who earn in shekels: whether “up to 70%” is a real figure, whether their salary is enough at all, and what will happen to the repayment if the shekel weakens. The first is answered by definition, and the other two are answered with numbers. This guide does both.

1Can you obtain a mortgage in Romania with income in shekels only?

Yes. Romanian banks finance non-residents with foreign income, usually up to 70% of the property's value, subject to the bank's approval, and the equity is at least 30%. “Up to” is a ceiling: the decision is the bank's alone, and it is assessed for each borrower separately, according to income, existing liabilities and the property.

2How does the bank calculate how much you can borrow?

The main limit comes from the regulator and not from the bank itself. Under Regulation 17/2012 of the BNR, the Romanian central bank, the borrower's total monthly repayments, on all his or her loans, may not exceed a certain percentage of disposable income. The percentage is determined by the relationship between the currency of the loan and the currency in which you earn.

Assume, for illustration only, a loan of about EUR 210,000 over 25 years at an interest rate of 6.5%. The monthly repayment comes to about EUR 1,420, before insurance and fees. This is what the income the bank will require looks like:

The practical conclusion: your income determines the size of the loan, not the price of the property. The currency in which the loan will be granted, and therefore which ceiling will apply, is decided by the bank according to the file. This is the first question worth asking, and the answer should appear in writing in the approval in principle.

3What happens to the repayment in shekels when the exchange rate changes?

For someone paid a salary in shekels, there is no loan in a “home currency”: both lei and euro are exposed to fluctuations against it. The Bank of Israel's representative rates illustrate the range: around ILS 3.89 per euro in October 2025, and around ILS 3.27 at the end of May 2026.

Whoever chooses lei bears two additional risks. The first is the ratio between the leu and the euro: according to the reference rates of the ECB, the European Central Bank, it moved from 5.0895 on 2.1.2026 to 5.3528 on 7.10.2026. The second is the interest rate: on a variable track the interest is calculated as the IRCC index plus a margin. Emergency Ordinance 50/2010 (Article 37) fixes the margin for the life of the loan, but the index itself is updated every quarter, and from 1.10.2026 its value is 5.57%.

4When does the mortgage come in on an off-plan purchase?

When buying in a project under construction, the bank usually provides the loan only at the stage when the finished home can be registered, that is, with the final contract. Until then, payments according to construction stages are usually made from your equity. Law 207/2025 (the “Nordis Law”), whose rules have been located since 25.8.2026 in Article 422(6) to (11) of the Planning and Construction Code (Law 169/2026), requires these payments to go into a separate project account. The developer may draw from it up to 25% of the price for the structural frame, and thereafter up to 20% for the building systems, and only with the signature of the site supervisor.

But the limit applies to the developer's withdrawals, not to the amounts you transfer: the size of the payments at each stage is determined by the preliminary contract. A further point: the bank finances a percentage of its own valuation, not of the contract price. A lower valuation increases the equity required.

• Ask the developer for the payment schedule in writing, as it will be written in the contract: for each payment, the stage, the percentage and the account into which it goes.
• Make sure that the total payments before the final contract do not exceed the equity you planned.

5How to prepare for the bank, step by step

1. Convert the disposable income of the whole household into euro, at a conservative rate, and deduct every existing repayment.
2. Run the expected repayment in a spreadsheet (the PMT function).
3. Ask the bank for written answers: the loan currency, the repayment ceiling that will apply to you, the DAE (Dobânda Anuală Efectivă, the total annual cost), and the amount of the repayment after the fixed-rate period ends.
4. Organise the documents in advance: passport, NIF, tax assessments or payslips translated and authenticated with an apostille, recent account statements and a report from the Bank of Israel's credit data register. The bank will determine the final list.
5. Obtain approval in principle before you sign a reservation agreement.
6. Obtain the bank's confirmation that the specific property is suitable for it as collateral.
7. Repeat the calculation at the worst rate of the past 12 months.

6What to do before signing and how we assist

Financing starts with income and currency, not with the property. We help buyers time the approval in principle against the preliminary contract, check that the payment schedule in the contract matches the equity and Law 207/2025, and make sure that the contract addresses the situation in which the bank approves less than expected. The decision on currency and track is made with the bank and with a mortgage adviser; the mortgage contract and registration of the mortgage are carried out before a notary licensed in Romania.

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The information in this guide is general in nature and does not constitute legal or tax advice on any specific transaction. Every transaction is assessed on its own facts.