Real estate. Loans granted, rates on the rise… What should we remember from the real estate market in April?

Even if the credit rates increase less quickly in April, some rates exceed 4% for borrowers who have little contribution.

Access to the real estate market is always difficult. The lengthening of loan durations no longer prevents a rapid decline in loan production. This is indicated by the latest Observatory Credit Housing / CSA.

A decelerating rate hike

The rise in credit rates decelerated in April with +11 basis points, i.e. an average rate of 3.15% (3.19% for new and existing homes), compared to 3.04% in March.

“Since January, increases in the average credit rate have been 20 basis points per month, on average. The revaluation of the rate of wear and tear that took place from January, then its monthly payment allowed a more rapid adjustment of the rate of the loans”, underlines the Observatory Credit Housing / CSA.

But rates of 4% over 25 years sometimes reached

For loans over 25 years, the rates exceeded 3.50% in April for half of the borrowers, and could even go beyond 4% for a small part of the borrowers with the least personal contribution.

Still no margin for banks

The margin of credit institutions has not recovered, according to the Observatory Credit Housing / CSA. The raising of the main European Central Bank (ECB) refinancing rate to 3.50% from March 22 has affected credit production, as it increases the cost at which banks buy the money they lend. , despite the monthly payment of the wear rate. The latest increase by the ECB (+0.25%, or 3.75%), which has applied since May 10, is less significant than the last six increases.

Long loan terms are stabilizing

In April, the average duration of loans was 250 months (20 years and 10 months). “A level rarely observed in the past, even if the extension is now marking time, indicates the Observatory Credit Housing / CSA. For more than a year, this trend in terms has no longer prevented a rapid decline in the production of loans. »

A number of loans granted which fell by 40.1%

Loan production continued to decline at the end of April, with a drop of 39.7% over the period February 2022-April 2023, compared to February 2021-April 2022, and of 40.1% in the number of loans granted.

“This fall is of an unprecedented nature, in the sense that it does not spare any of the residential real estate sectors”, notes the Observatory.