Real estate credit: which households benefit the most from the drop in rates?

Real estate loan rates continue to fall, in the wake of those of the ECB. But some households benefit more than others.

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They have been decreasing for almost a year now. Real estate loan rates fell again in November. at 3.45% on average for loans over 20 years. Rates have now fallen below their level 18 months ago. “Banks, keen to achieve their production targets for 2025, are deploying bold strategies to stimulate the granting of real estate loans”confirms Nassima Khiari, head of banking relations for the broker Empruntis.

This drop in rates leads to an increase in the production of real estate loans. Banks distributed 9.6 billion euros in housing loans in September (latest data available), an increase of 300 million over one month, part of a “clear recovery trend since March 2024”estimates the Bank of France this Thursday, November 7.

More reduction for modest borrowers

An improvement that does not benefit all households. As proof of their desire to lend to as many people as possible, banks have chosen to further lower the rates for the longest loans, those over 25 years. This maturity, popular with young people and modest first-time buyers, was trading at an average of 3.45% in October, according to the Crédit Logement CSA Observatory. Or only 0.11 points more than the credits over 15 years. In December 2023, at the peak of home loan rates, this delta was almost twice as high.

Beyond the duration of the loan, the standard of living of households constitutes the second factor in determining rates. It is the poorest borrowers who benefit more from the drop in rates. Between December and September, the interest charged to the 25% of households obtaining the least attractive rates over 25 years decreased by 0.80 points (from 4.68% to 3.88%). And even 0.84 points for loans over 20 years. Conversely, the richest 25% of borrowers only benefited from respective reductions of 0.64 points and 0.66 points.