Loans to individuals, France - 2024-08
Published on the 7th of October 2024
Interest rates on housing loans continue to fall
- Seasonally adjusted production of housing loans (excluding renegotiations) stood at €9.3 bn in August, continuing the clear upward trend since the low of €6.9 bn in March 2024 (€8.6 bn in June and €11.3 bn in July).
- The average interest rate on new housing loans continues to fall, to 3.59% in August after 3.64% in July for transactions excluding renegotiations, and is back slightly below its level of a year ago (3.62% in August 2023).
- At 15%, the use of banks' flexibility margin in relation to the HCSF standard remains significantly lower than the overall envelope of 20% left to banks to derogate from it.
Production of new housing loans ![]()
(Monthly seasonally adjusted new loans in € Bn)
Interest rates on housing loans, all maturities (excluding renegotiations) ![]()
(Narrowly defined effective rate, average weighted by long and short term flows, in %)
Production of new loans (excluding overdrafts, monthly flows seasonally adjusted (a))![]()
(volumes in €bn, proportion in percentage)
| Apr-24 | May-24 | June-24 | July-24 (r) | Aug-24 (p) | |
| -loans for consumption purposes (b) | 6.0 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| -housing loans | 11.0 | 9.7 | 10.0 | 13.1 | 10.8 |
| of which housing loans excluding renegotiations | 8.9 | 8.1 | 8.6 | 11.3 | 9.3 |
| -proportion of renegotiation (not seasonally adjusted) in % (c) | 19.7 | 17.3 | 14.6 | 13.3 | 13.7 |
Interest rates on new loans (narrow defined effective rate, monthly average)![]()
(in percentage)
| Apr-24 | May-24 | June-24 | July-24 (r) | Aug-24 (p) | |
| -housing loans | 3.51 | 3.51 | 3.45 | 3.42 | 3.38 |
| of which housing loans long term and fixed rates | 3.49 | 3.48 | 3.43 | 3.39 | 3.36 |
| of which housing loans short term or floating rates | 3.97 | 4.03 | 3.91 | 4.11 | 3.90 |
| of which housing loans excluding renegotiations | 3.89 | 3.83 | 3.70 | 3.64 | 3.59 |
| -loans for consumption purposes (b) | 6.49 | 6.60 | 6.47 | 6.44 | 6.44 |
| -overdrafts for individuals (d) | 6.98 | 7.20 | 7.23 | 7.03 | 7.25 |
(a) Parameters for seasonal adjustment are updated each month, taking into account monthly data under review; (b) Excluding revolving loans. Loans for splitted-cost payments (mainly "loans granted on market place" and "extended credit-card credits" are included into consumption 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). (r) Revised data; (p) Provisional data
Renegotiated loans are loans where at least one of the terms of the initial contract is modified with the active participation of the borrower, giving rise to the declaration of a new contract. They include in particular loans for which the insurance contract has been modified (since February 2022 the Lemoine law authorizes the termination at any time of the borrower's insurance contracts, without any notice period or fees or penalties) even if the other characteristics of the loan remain unchanged.
Renegotiated loans are loans where at least one of the terms of the initial contract is modified with the active participation of the borrower, giving rise to the declaration of a new contract. They include in particular loans for which the insurance contract has been modified (since February 2022 the Lemoine law authorizes the termination at any time of the borrower's insurance contracts, without any notice period or fees or penalties) even if the other characteristics of the loan remain unchanged.
Share of new housing loans not meeting HCSF lending criteria thresholds in total production* ![]()
* Total new housing loan production excluding renegotiations and excluding bridging loans
Outstanding amounts and annual growth rates (without seasonal adjustment) ![]()
(Outstanding amounts in €Bn, annual growth rate in %)
| End-of-month level | Annual growth rate | |||
| Aug-24 | June-24 | July-24 | Aug-24 | |
| Total | 1,523 | -0.1 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Lending for house purchase | 1,284 | -0.7 | -0.8 | -0.9 |
| Credit for consumption | 209 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
| Other lending | 31 | 14.6 | 15.5 | 16.4 |
Net flows of housing loans to individuals (seasonally adjusted) ![]()
(In €bn)
Net flows of credit for consumption (seasonally adjusted) ![]()
(In €bn)
Euro area : Annual growth rate of outstanding housing loans to households (in %) (1) ![]()
Euro area : Interest rates for new housing loans (excluding renegotiations , in %) ![]()
(1) Households = Individuals + sole entrepreneurs + non-profit institutions serving households. The annual growth rate of outstanding housing loans to households in France is -0.7% in August 2024 and -0.9% for individuals alone.
Euro area: New housing loans (excluding renegotiations) to households, cumulative in €Bn
Additional information on access to real estate credit for first-time buyers
The Banque de France collects additional information from resident banks on housing loans, which makes it possible to break down loans according to their characteristics as well as those of the borrowers (loan amount, number of loans, average term, first-time buyer or not, etc.). This more granular information is based on a sample of 12 banks representing 90% of total outstanding loans, and is available with a small time lag. Analysis of the data shows that:
- The proportion of first-time buyers taking out a housing loan to purchase a primary residence accounts for half of new loans.
- The average maturity of housing loans for the purchase of a principal residence is slightly below 23 years for all borrowers and 23 years and 6 months for first-time buyers.
- The proportion of first-time buyers taking out a housing loan to purchase a primary residence accounts for half of new loans.
- The average maturity of housing loans for the purchase of a principal residence is slightly below 23 years for all borrowers and 23 years and 6 months for first-time buyers.
Share of first-time buyers in the production of housing loans for the acquisition of a principal residence
(in %)
Average maturity of housing loans for the purchase of a primary residence
(in years)
Additional information
- 'Indivduals' are a subset of the 'households' economic sector, which also includes sole proprietors and uncoporated partnerships.
- 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. 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.
- 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. 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.
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Updated on the 15th of October 2024