Faced with concerns about their purchasing power, the French are less and less numerous to hold a loan and to consider taking out one soon, according to a study published Tuesday by the French Banking Federation and the French Association of Financial Companies. .
According to the work carried out by Kantar with a representative sample of the French population of 13,000 households with a response rate of nearly 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.
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It is above all the share of consumer loans which has fallen, for the fifth consecutive year, from 24% in 2021 to 21.8%.
Referring to "
the rise in concerns
", Michel Mouillart, professor of economics who presented the results of the study, explained that "
in this case, it is expenditure on durable consumption (car, household equipment, work, Editor's note) which are the most quickly and clearly affected
".
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The share of households holding 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 nearly 20% in one year.
Intentions "
fall to their lowest level since 1997, well below their long-term average (4.8%)
", underlines the study.
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"
Personal contribution requirements have increased considerably
" and households "
must have sufficient visibility
" regarding their purchasing power to commit to such a long-term project, which is less the case in the current context. , emphasizes Michel Mouillart.
In addition, the vast majority of households with credit, 87.3%, ensure that the weight of repayment charges is "
on the whole bearable
", one of the highest proportions of the past two decades, underlines the study. , despite inflation.
