The fall in the number of mortgages, feared by brokers, is now a reality, as evidenced by the latest figures from the Banque de France: -32% over one year in February excluding renegotiations. So, to remedy this, the Ministry of Economy and Finance would be ready to relax the rules conditioning its access, according to information from the Echoesconfirmed by AFP on Tuesday 4 April.
“At the request of the Minister (Bruno Le Maire), assessment work is being carried out in conjunction with the Banque de France, the HCSF (High Council for Financial Stability, which includes among others the Ministry of ‘Economy and the Banque de France, editor’s note) and all the actors concerned”, develops Bercy the day after a meeting with the French Banking Federation, and a month after the High Council has deemed the current rules satisfactory.
Since January 1, 2022, French banks must meet the following criteria, defined by the HCSF, to grant a mortgage: an effort rate, i.e. the total amount of housing-related expenses reported income, of 35% maximum and a debt period of 27 years at most, for certain cases (such as work prior to moving in).
However, establishments have the possibility of derogating from these criteria for 20% of loans, provided that these derogations essentially concern the acquisition of a main residence and aim in a third of cases to support first-time buyers. Today, this “margin of flexibility is very far from being saturated, at 14.5%”, reacts to AFP the Banque de France, recalling that “mortgage is the most abundant in France and the least dear in Europe today”. If changes were to be announced, they would be announced at the next HCSF meeting in June.
A new twist
For its part, the French Banking Federation (FBF) stresses that the “daily implementation” of the HCSF criteria “can be complex in management”. “The profession shares Bercy’s proposal to open a dialogue on the subject”, she adds, while evoking “granting criteria specific to banks which are perfectly adapted and would make it possible to take more clients”.
Behind this formulation, the FBF evokes without directly mentioning the remainder to live, a criterion regularly defended by the banks, and which in certain cases could replace the rate of effort. Unlike the debt ratio, this takes into account the amount of money left to households for their current expenses, after the payment of debts. This method of calculation, so far rejected by the HCSF, because considered too subjective, rather benefits high incomes.
If nothing is yet recorded, this declaration of the ministry marks a new inflection, after the “technical adjustment” of the calculation of the rate of wear decided in January and which now exceeds 4%. This rate, which caps all the costs of a home loan, was accused of restricting access to credit by preventing banks from lending more expensively, during a period of sharp rise in rates. After months of pressure and a demonstration by brokers in front of the Banque de France, the public authorities finally decided to recalculate this wear rate every month until July 1, and no longer every quarter, in order to raise it more quickly.