Loans to individuals, France 2021May

Published on 6 July 2021

High housing credit production and low interest rates


  • The annual growth rate of outstanding loans to individuals remains strong (+5.4% in May, after +5.3% in April). Growth in housing credit remains high (+5.8%, after +5.9% in April), as does growth in consumer loans, especially compared to the same period last year (+4.5%, after +3.3% in April).

  • Seasonnally adjusted monthly production of housing loans excluding renegotiations amounts to EUR 21 billion (after EUR 19.4 billion in April). The share of renegotiations increases to 19.3% (after 17.1% in April).

  • The monthly production of consumer loans remains dynamic with 5.7 billion euros, after 5.5 billion in April.

  • The average interest rate on new home loans has now stabilised at its low point (1.15%).

Outstanding amounts and annual growth rates (without seasonal adjustment)
(Outstanding amounts in EUR Bn, annual growth rate in %)
End-of-month level Annual growth rate
May- 2021 Mar- 2021 Apr-2021 May- 2021
Total 1,383 4.5 5.3 5.4
Lending for house purchase 1,162 5.2 5.9 5.8
Credit for consumption 191 1.1 3.3 4.5
Other lending 30 1.2 -1.9 -3.2
Housing loans to individuals (seasonally adjusted)
(In billion euros)
Credit for consumption (seasonally adjusted)
(In billion euros)
Production of new loans (excluding overdrafts, monthly flows seasonally adjusted (a))
(volumes in billion euros, proportion in percentage)
Dec- 2020 Jan- 2021 Feb- 2021 Mar-2021 Apr- 2021(e) May-2021 (f)
- loans for consumption purposes (b) 5.3 6.1 5.8 5.7 5.5 5.7
- housing loans 20.3 18.5 18.8 21.5 23.4 26.1
of which housing loans excluding renegotiations 17.4 15.6 15.6 17.8 19.4 21.0
- proportion of renegotiation (not seasonally adjusted) in % (c) 14.2 15.9 16.8 17.2 17.1 19.3
Interest rates on new loans (narrow defined effective rate, monthly average)
(in %)
Dec- 2020 Jan- 2021 Feb- 2021 Mar-2021 Apr- 2021 (e) May-2021 (f)
- housing loans 1.24 1.24 1.22 1.18 1.15 1.15
of which housing loans long term and fixed rates 1.24 1.24 1.21 1.18 1.15 1.14
of which housing loans short term or floating rates 1.33 1.32 1.29 1.26 1.23 1.23
of which housing loans excluding renegotiations 1.21 1.20 1.18 1.14 1.11 1.10
- loans for consumption purposes (b) 3.59 3.61 3.56 3.58 3.56 3.61
- overdrafts for individuals (d) 4.94 5.15 5.41 5.18 5.15 5.16
(a) Parameters for seasonal adjustment are updated each month, taking into account monthly data under review.
(b) Excluding revolving loans.
(c) Ratio of renegotiated loans on housing loans, both not seasonally adjusted
(d) Overdrafts: negative balance of ordinary accounts + commercial credits + factoring + cash credits without fixed repayment schedule (including mobilization of revolving loans).
(e) Revised data
(f) Provisional data
Interest rates on housing loans, all maturities
(Narrowly defined effective rate, average weighted by long and short term flows, in %)
Share of renegotiated loans in new housing loans
(Monthly seasonally adjusted new loans in € Bn, share in %)
Additional information
Only loans granted to individuals (households excluding sole proprietors and unincorporated partnerships) by resident monetary financial institutions are presented here.
The outstanding growth rates are calculated from monthly changes in stocks (including sales and securitization) by correcting from modifications that do not reflect economic changes, especially, the accounting derecognition of loans from the MFI's statistical balance sheet due to write-offs/write-downs. Conversely, exchange rate effects are taken into account without any change for technical reasons.
Monthly growth rates are those of new loans agreed, i.e. disbursed. Nevertheless, new loan production represents new loans granted, even when they are not actually disbursed to the borrower, in accordance with the Eurosystem harmonised methodology, which aims to provide the public with an indicator that rapidly reflects changes in loan production. For this reason, the production of new loans differs from monthly changes in outstanding loans. Indeed, on the one hand, outstanding loans are recorded after the effective disbursement of funds and, on the other hand, they are reduced by the amortization of old loans.
The weighted average rates and new business volumes are calculated according to the harmonized definitions of the Eurosystem. Published rates are the narrowly defined effective rate (NDER). They correspond to the interest component of the Annual Percentage Rate of Charge (APRC). Renegotiated loans also include external mortgage repurchases.
More information on: time series, calendar, methodology

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STAT INFO - May 2021
Loans to individuals
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Updated on 5 July 2021