Compromise in sight for a more regular increase in the maximum rate for mortgages

This is what emerges from a meeting bringing together the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Banque de France, bankers and brokers, held Wednesday in Paris.

These two hours focused "on the potential monthly increase in the rate of wear", indicates Thursday to AFP Bérangère Dubus, secretary general of the Union of credit intermediaries (UIC).

The calculation of the rate is currently carried out each quarter by the Banque de France, which takes into account the average rates charged by the banks over the last three months increased by a third.

"Instead of making this increase once at the end of the quarter with a big march ... We would do three smaller marches, month by month, looking at the previous three months each time", summarized Governor François Villeroy de Galhau on Wednesday in front of the Senate Finance Committee.

"This technical adjustment may be warranted if desired by the credit professionals we will consult in this regard," he continued.

It "already makes it possible to respond to the problem of speed of adaptation" of the rates at which banks borrow on the markets, driven by the rise in the key rates of the European Central Bank, replies Ms. Dubus.

It would be "an exceptional measure which could last one or two quarters", adds another participant in the meeting, joined Thursday by AFP and who wanted to remain anonymous.

The wear rate has been set since January 1 at 3,57% all costs included for a loan of 20 years and more.

Intended to protect individuals from abusive borrowing conditions, this rate caps all the costs of a home loan: credit rate charged by the bank, any brokers' commission, borrower's insurance.

The average credit rate (excluding insurance and ancillary costs) comes close: it is measured at 2,04% in December by the Banque de France and even at 2,25% in November by the CSA/Crédit Logement Observatory , after a very rapid rise in recent months.

This rise in the rate has a cost for the borrower: for example, when the rate of a loan of 150.000 euros over 20 years goes from 1% to 2%, the amount to be repaid in fine goes from around 165.500 euros to more than 182.000 euros, i.e. some 16.500 additional euros.