Should we encourage a relaxation of the rules governing real estate credit by modifying the functioning of the body that defines them, or does this approach risk harming France’s financial image?
The debate is open with the start of the examination in the National Assembly of a bill aimed at “completing the provisions applicable to the High Financial Stability Council” (HCSF), to limit “certain shortcomings”.
Since its creation in 2013, the HCSF’s mission has been to monitor the French financial system as a whole, but it is best known for its role in supervising the activity of banks in granting real estate loans. This role led it, in 2019, to publish recommendations, binding since 2021, which limit the duration of loans to twenty-five years and the “effort rate”, the share of income that a borrower can spend on repaying the loan.
These rules were originally aimed at avoiding “overheating” of the real estate market during periods of very low rates, but the sharp rise in the cost of credit since 2022 has changed the situation, resulting in a 40% drop in credit volumes. real estate in 2023.
Criticized for months by some real estate players, starting with credit brokers, the HCSF is now being targeted by deputies.
“Full support” from the minister’s office
“It cannot impose standards that are above the law without taking into account their economic impact and the fact that these decisions can contribute to the real estate crisis,” explains the rapporteur of the bill, the deputy for Landes Lionel Causse (Renaissance), who demands “complete support” from the office of the Minister Delegate in charge of Housing, Guillaume Kasbarian.
The text he is defending plans to bring two parliamentarians into the body and, above all, to authorize banks to exempt themselves from the effort rate criterion, if they can demonstrate the absence of debt risk. ” excessive “.
These proposals have sparked preventive mobilization by the Bank of France in recent weeks. In a document addressed to the elected officials concerned that was obtained The worldthe institution mentions among other things “the insufficiency of such private self-regulation” and the risk of seeing the proposed changes weaken “heavily affects the image of France with regard to financial stability”.
“Everyone is in their role
Insufficient arguments to discourage brokers from supporting the text, in which they see the beginning of a response to the demands they have been making for months. “It is normal that financial institutions are regulated, but not that we tell them to whom they have the right to lend or not”says Guillaume Autier, executive president of Meilleurtaux.
You have 22.5% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.