The pandemic has not held back the household mortgage market

The pandemic has not held back the household mortgage market.

In the last two and a half years, despite the difficulties linked to Covid also on the economic level, banks have disbursed - according to an analysis by Fabi -

, with a growth of 9%.

Total loans for house purchases went from 383 billion at the end of 2019 to 417 billion in May 2022. 

In the coming months, the increase in the cost of money will raise the interest rates charged by banks on new mortgages but already in recent days - according to an analysis by Fabi -

.

"The increase in rates decided by the ECB aims to counteract the increase in inflation, but at the same time it will put families in difficulty both for the payment of the installments of the variable rate mortgages already disbursed, which will undergo progressive increases, both as regards access to new loans, which will have higher costs ", says the secretary general of Fabi Lando Maria Sileoni.

There is therefore an important turnaround

- compared to the trend of recent years: in 2018, the average of interest rates - Fabi recalls - on mortgages was equal to 2.26% and then gradually decreased in the following three years, falling to 1.88% in 2019, to 1.69% in 2020, to 1.59% in 2021, to then begin the recovery as early as last May with average interest rates reached 1.61%, but in recent days, peaks of around 3% have been recorded.

According to Sileoni, "for the banks, therefore, it

for the purchase of houses and this will force a relapse on the real estate market which runs the risk of becoming plastered. To complicate the situation, let's not forget the rules of the same. ECB on bank loans, rules that on more than one occasion I have criticized because - says the secretary general of Fabi - they represent a heavy limit to the development and growth of our country ".