Lithuanians acquire their first home with a loan before major life changes: the birth of children or at least their growth to the need for their own room, career changes. Last year, loans were most often chosen by people aged 26-30 and 31-35, representing 27 percent and 26 percent of all applications respectively. Combining respondents, the group from 26 to 35 years old makes up more than half of all applicants. Such data is revealed by "Bigbank" data.

According to the latest Statistics Department data, in Lithuania men marry at an average age of 30.5 years, while women at 28.3 years. Starting a family or business are joyful but often financially unstable life stages, so life changes and related purchases should be planned in advance.

Those Planning to Start a Family Should Sometimes First Buy Housing

Edvard Arnatkevič from "Bigbank's" Customer Relationship Management Department in Lithuania notes that before taking a loan, it's important to evaluate your capabilities and future plans: "When assessing clients' capabilities, it's important for the bank that a person has stable income.

Before getting married, you should determine the total income amount. If clients plan to go on maternity or paternity leave soon, change jobs, or start a business, their creditworthiness may be assessed differently in just a few months. When borrowing, you should evaluate that income will decrease while the payment remains the same, so the financial situation may worsen."

When taking a housing loan, these requirements must be met:

• You need to have a down payment. The minimum down payment is 15 percent of the housing price, but if the housing is old construction or less liquid (harder to sell for various reasons), banks may require a larger down payment, and these funds cannot be borrowed.
• The payment amount cannot exceed 40 percent of loan recipients' received income. Also, don't forget that other existing obligations are also considered, so if you've already borrowed, for example, for a car or have a credit card (even if you haven't used the card's credit limit), the maximum housing loan amount will be smaller.
• Good credit history is essential. Although credit history is only one of the tools for assessing solvency, if you have a good history, you'll likely pass other verification points as well: usually the loan risk database is checked, recent years' income, its amount, stability, existing obligations, etc.

All this means that the overall average of a married couple's financial situation is evaluated, and getting married doesn't always improve that average. For example, when a child is born, they are always counted as another family member, which can reduce the maximum possible loan amount.

When responsibly planning your finances and wanting to avoid difficulties later, this should be kept in mind. Everything is also calculated even if the loan is taken by two unmarried people.

It should also be kept in mind that when a child is born, one of the parents may stay home to care for them, which increases family expenses and reduces income, as paternity or maternity benefits are usually smaller than the received salary – this also affects the size of the possible loan.

Those Changing Jobs or Planning to Start a Business Should Also Be More Cautious

When evaluating a person's or family's income and looking from the bank's perspective, the most stable and easiest to evaluate income is salary, because it can be seen in "Sodra" (Social Insurance).

However, those planning to change jobs should do so after already taking a housing loan or wait at least six months: "Those wanting to borrow for housing and working under an employment contract must have at least 6 months of uninterrupted work experience in one or several workplaces, if the probationary period has ended at the new workplace.

This means that when changing jobs, even if you had very high income before, you won't get a loan without income," says E. Arnatkevič.

Even more planning is needed by those who aim to start their own business or work independently under an individual activity certificate or business license. Usually, a much longer period of activity is required from these people: banks may ask for up to 2 years of stable income proof, and not all income is evaluated.

In some cases, those who have a business or work independently calculate with the housing loan calculator that they can get a very large loan, but when submitting a request to the bank, they get completely different numbers.

Banks automatically deduct payable taxes and incurred expenses, so in such cases a smaller portion of income may be evaluated, unless clients provide income after deducting all expenses and taxes.

This means a loan should be taken before changing jobs or waiting at least 6 months in a new job, and those wanting to start a business should first properly plan each stage of business creation and growth: "Getting a housing loan while working a regular job is usually easier than having a business, so it could be taken before starting a business. But first and foremost, you should make sure the business will really succeed, and not quit your job until the business is started. It's important to first find clients and not rush," E. Arnatkevič encourages acting responsibly.

According to "Ober-Haus" April 2025 data, the average housing price in Lithuania rose 4.9 percent over the past year. Real estate price growth has been accelerating since the end of 2023, so even waiting just 2-3 years may mean having to pay significantly more for housing.

Therefore, if possible, it's recommended to buy housing before major life changes, as a significant portion of Lithuanian residents are currently doing.