The average rate of real estate loans starts to fall again in the 1st quarter, according to Crédit Logement

The drop is slight but notable compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, when the average rate peaked at 4,18%. Above all, on a quarterly scale, it marks a movement that is the opposite of that observed over the past two years.

The real estate loan market has indeed changed since the start of 2022, when average rates were barely above 1%.

The rise in rates from the European Central Bank (ECB) to counter inflation turned everything upside down: it increased the cost of money for banks, who passed on this additional cost to their clients to maintain their margins.

The rate given by Crédit Logement, the result of a restatement on the basis of partial data, is slightly different from that of the Banque de France, which has an exhaustive vision but with a slight delay: it was 4,11% per month. of February according to the latter, but had also started a decline compared to the previous mark, in January.

These rates exclude fees and insurance. All fees included, the rate between January and March was 4,79% over 20 years or more, according to the Banque de France.

For a loan of 100.000 euros over 25 years, this represents a credit cost of more than 55.000 euros, three times more than two years ago, a fact that candidates for purchase must integrate into their project.

As real estate prices have not fallen as much, the market finds itself seized up. The production of new housing loans (excluding renegotiations) fell to 7,3 billion euros in February, according to the Banque de France, the lowest in almost ten years.

The government and certain parliamentarians are looking for solutions to get the machine moving again. Thus the Renaissance deputy Lionel Causse is proposing a bill, examined in the National Assembly on April 29, aimed at reforming the High Financial Stability Council (HCSF), which enacts, among other things, rules governing the granting of real estate credit.

“The problem with housing is that it is too expensive (...), that is what we must act on,” replied the president of the Finance Committee of the Assembly Eric Coquerel. (LFI) last Wednesday.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.