2023-09-24 14:44:50
In one year, the number of credits granted has plummeted. To encourage the relaunch of real estate transactions, the Ministry of Finance is studying the possibility of relaxing credit conditions, said Sunday the president of the Law Committee of the National Assembly Sacha Houlié (Renaissance). Bruno Le Maire, to whom the latter spoke about it, “said to study this hypothesis”, according to the deputy for Vienne, interviewed on Franceinfo.
“We are extremely attentive to the dynamics of production of real estate loans in France,” responded Bercy to AFP, stressing that Bruno Le Maire had “received representatives of the French Banking Federation (FBF) last week to make a point on the subject. On this occasion, “he notably encouraged them to use all the flexibilities that already exist and which were already relaxed a few months ago”.
In June, for example, the High Financial Stability Council (HCSF) raised the share of real estate loans to which banks can apply their own criteria in a derogatory manner. “The minister will see the governor of the Bank of France to explore the subject in more depth”, Tuesday morning during a meeting of the HCSF, the body which can rule on these questions, Bercy further indicated. Bruno Le Maire is in fact not the only decision-maker within the High Council which he chairs.
Government leads
For Sacha Houlié, the possible avenues would be to “loosen some conditions, either the (maximum debt) rate of 35%, or the exemptions which are open”. The Minister of the Economy, as president of the HCSF, received a request to this effect from several Assembly committee chairmen, including Sacha Houlié, as well as the general budget rapporteur Jean-René Cazenave .
“There are multiple cases in which households, whose income could justify borrowing to acquire a main residence or invest in rental property, are deprived of access to real estate credit. This reluctance can only be explained by the strict and prudential application of the rules decreed by the High Council,” they deplore in their letter obtained by AFP.
A loosening of credit conditions “would unblock many individual situations and give a welcome new lease of life to housing construction or renovations,” they judge. The debt ratio of borrowers, including the cost of credit insurance, is currently limited to 35% of their income, although with exemptions for first-time buyers.
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