According to the broker Pretto, 18% of files financed in 2021 by banks could no longer be financed in 2022. In question, the rate of wear and the maximum debt ratio, supposed to protect borrowers, who would ultimately turn against them.
Are the rules meant to protect borrowers turning against them? This is what several brokers say, starting with Pretto, who held a press conference on Tuesday, July 5 on households excluded from mortgages.
By re-studying the files for which we obtained an agreement from the banks in 2021, we have come to the following conclusion: 18% of files financed in 2021 would no longer be financeable in the market context of June 2022, analyzes Pierre Chapon, co-founder of Pretto.
220,000 files potentially refused
Since January 1, 2022, the High Council for Financial Stability (HCSF) has required banks and borrowers to comply with two rules, which were previously only recommendations. From now on, with some exceptions, banks can no longer lend beyond 25 years, when borrowers cannot not go into debt for more than 35% of their income. Clearly, a couple who would earn 4000 euros cannot borrow more than 1400 euros per month.
However, according to Pretto, nearly 160,000 files financed in 2021 would no longer have been financeable in the state because they exceeded the maximum debt ratio of 35%. However, the broker attenuates this assertion by explaining that half of these files could today be financed by modifying the duration of the project or by increasing the personal contribution to the detriment, however, of the total cost of the credit and the residual savings available.
Real estate credit: going through a broker, more than a case of better rates
If the rules of the HCSF are restrictive, it is today the rate of wear, the maximum rate at which banks can make credit, which concentrates the wrath of brokers. On the files of 2021, Pretto ensures that nearly 60,000 files would no longer have been financeable because they exceeded the wear rate. For Pierre Chapon, the ceiling of wear mechanically excludes more the less affluent profiles, which shifts the average production towards more affluent profiles. The average rates are then artificially lowered, which further delays the increase in the rate of wear and therefore the possibility of access for all profiles to credit.
save up to 70% on your borrower insurance
Pretto therefore asks that the calculation of the rate of wear and tear be reviewed using as the basis for calculation the average of the effective monthly rates and no longer those observed over the quarter, but above all to add a fixed margin of the order of one two points this average. Today, the average rate for the quarter is increased by a third, which is considered largely insufficient for brokers.
Real estate credit: the Banque de France defends the wear rate in the face of criticism
These proposals would make it easier to access credit and neutralize part of the crowding out that we are seeing, without risking an overheating of the market, concludes the broker.