Loans to individuals, France 2022Dec
Published on 3 February 2023
The growth rate of the outstanding amount of residential property loans to households is still significant while decelerating
- In 2022, growth in outstanding housing loans amounted to +5.3%.
- In December, new housing loans stands at €15.0 billion (after €18.2 billion in November). Over the year, production excluding renegotiations thus reaches €218 billion, down 3.0% compared to 2021 (€225 billion), which remains an exceptional year for housing loans. However, the trend in loan production has gone through two phases: an exceptionally dynamic first half of the year, benefiting from still very low interest rates, with average monthly production of €19.7 billion (compared with an average of €18.4 billion for the year 2021), followed by a second half of the year in which average monthly production fell back to €16.7 billion.
- Interest rates continued their gradual rise in December, with an effective rate in the narrow sense -TESE-, i.e. excluding fees and insurance, of 2.05% on average.
- Compared to the other major countries in the euro zone, all of which are seeing a slowdown and a stronger increase in the cost of property loans, in France it appears to be the most abundant and least expensive one in Europe.
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 | |||||
| Dec- 2022 | Oct- 2022 | Nov- 2022 | Dec- 2022 | Jan-2023 (*) | ||
| Total | 1,512 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.0 | ||
| Lending for house purchase | 1,281 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.1 | |
| Credit for consumption | 202 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.3 | ||
| Other lending | 29 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 3.2 | ||
(*) Nowcasting
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)
| Aug-2022 | Sep- 2022 | Oct- 2022 | Nov- 2022 (e) | Dec- 2022 (f) | Jan-2023 (g) | |
| - loans for consumption purposes (b) | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.6 | 5.5 | |
| - housing loans | 21.0 | 18.6 | 18.5 | 18.2 | 15.0 | 14.4 |
| of which housing loans excluding renegotiations | 18.8 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 15.9 | 14.0 | 13.0 |
| - proportion of renegotiation (not seasonally adjusted) in % (c) | 10.6 | 12.3 | 13.4 | 12.8 | 12.5 |
Interest rates on new loans (narrow defined effective rate, monthly average)![]()
(in %)
| Aug-2022 | Sep- 2022 | Oct- 2022 | Nov- 2022 (e) | Dec- 2022 (f) | Jan-2023 (g) | |
| - housing loans | 1.58 | 1.68 | 1.77 | 1.91 | 2.05 | 2.20 |
| of which housing loans long term and fixed rates | 1.58 | 1.69 | 1.78 | 1.92 | 2.05 | |
| of which housing loans short term or floating rates | 1.53 | 1.62 | 1.67 | 1.81 | 2.05 | |
| of which housing loans excluding renegotiations | 1.59 | 1.70 | 1.81 | 1.96 | 2.12 | |
| - loans for consumption purposes (b) | 3.89 | 3.87 | 4.31 | 4.64 | 4.80 | |
| - overdrafts for individuals (d) | 4.91 | 5.15 | 5.23 | 5.49 | 5.49 |
(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).
(e) Revised data
(f) Provisional data
(g) Nowcasting
(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).
(e) Revised data
(f) Provisional data
(g) Nowcasting
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 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 share of first-time borrowers of home loans for the acquisition of a principal residence is 49% in November 2022, a proportion slightly higher than the average observed since 2015.
- The average term of housing loans for the purchase of a principal residence reaches 23 years and 1 month for all borrowers and 23 years and 9 months for first-time buyers.
Share of first-time buyers in the production of housing loans for the acquisition of a principal residence
Average maturity of housing loans for the purchase of a primary residence
(in %)
(in year)
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. As of October 1st, 2021, the Banque de France start offering a nowcasting on new business loans and interest rates based on a model which takes into account market conditions (reference interest rate, property transfer duties...) and the past values of the estimated variables. The absolute nowcasting deviation is on average 0.3 billion euros over the long term, i.e. 1.5% of the average gross flow. For interest rates, the absolute deviation is 1 basis point on average.
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CRE_PAR_2261_en__SI_credits_particuliers_EN_202212.pdf
Updated on 2 February 2023