Concerned about their purchasing power, fewer and fewer French people have a loan and plan to take one out soon, according to a study published Tuesday by the French Banking Federation and the French Association of Finance Companies.
According to this annual study, carried out by Kantar with a representative sample of the French population of 13,000 households with a response rate of almost 70%, 43.4% of French households had a mortgage, real estate or consumer, in 2022 , the lowest level recorded since the creation of this barometer in 1989. It is above all the share of consumer credit that has fallen, for the fifth consecutive year, from 24% in 2021 to 21.8%.
Referring to the “increased concerns”, Michel Mouillart, professor of economics who presented the results of the study, explained that “in this case, it is the sustainable consumption expenses (car, household equipment, works, Editor’s Note) that more quickly and more clearly affected”.
Real estate credit: lower intentions
The proportion of households that have a mortgage has also fallen, but less rapidly, from 30.6% in 2021 to 30.1% in 2022, i.e. its 2015 level.
For the next six months, 3.9% of households intend to take out a new mortgage, compared to 4.8% in 2021, a drop of almost 20% in one year. Intentions “fall to their lowest level since 1997, well below their long-term average (4.8%),” the study underlines.
“Personal contribution requirements have increased considerably” and households “must have sufficient visibility” in terms of their purchasing power to commit to such a long-term project, which is less so in the current context, underlines Michel Mouillart.
In addition, the vast majority of households with credit, 87.3%, assure that the weight of amortization expenses is “generally bearable”, one of the highest proportions in the last two decades, underlines the study, despite inflation.
Source: BFM TV
