The average rate of home loans over twenty years? It stood at 3.76% in April, according to the Crédit Logement/CSA Observatory, compared to 4.26% in December 2023. Good news for individuals, whose real estate purchasing power is regaining a little air, after a year 2023 under pressure. Because if stone prices fell by 3.1% in 2023 in the ten largest cities in France according to MeilleursAgents, buyers have suffered the full brunt of the surge in property loan rates, multiplied by four in two years.
As a result, the real estate market has slowed down, with only 875,000 transactions in 2023 (figure from the National Real Estate Federation) compared to 1.1 million in 2022. The production of real estate loans also reflects this slump: it is limited to 128.6 billion euros in 2023, excluding renegotiations, compared to more than 200 billion euros per year in 2021 and 2022.
The start of 2024 is even duller: only 6.7 billion euros in housing loans (data still provisional) were, for example, granted by banks in March. We have to go back to 2014 to find a level of monthly production below 7 billion. The Banque de France, however, sees a glimmer of hope. “We have observed several encouraging signs since the start of the year: real estate prices have fallen, credit rates are down slightly and professionals have noted a revival in demand”notes its deputy governor Agnès Bénassy-Quéré.
This should contribute, according to the Banque de France, to the restart of the market. “In addition, the French are regaining purchasing power because real wages, after inflation, are improving. All these factors point to an increase in demand for credit from households, although this will take time.adds Agnès Bénassy-Quéré.
Buyers today benefit from much more favorable conditions than six months ago. They can negotiate not only the price of the housing they want, but also the interest rate on their credit. Because all the banks are now back in this market. While large national networks like SG (new name of the retail bank of the Société Générale group), BNP Paribas or La Banque Postale lending almost no more in 2023, they have been there since the start of the year. Even CCF (formerly HSBC France) is back, targeting CSP+, in the Paris region and in the regions.
Profitable loans for banks
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