Following 2020, which was marked by a moderate slowdown in activity as a result of the lockdown measures, the French housing loan market experienced a significant upturn in 2021 in a background of very low interest rates:
- Between the fourth quarter of 2020 (Q4-2020) and Q4-2021, the INSEE price index for existing properties showed a further 7.2% increase in metropolitan France, with marked divergences between the Île-de-France region (+2.7%) and the rest of France (+9%), while prices fell in Paris (-1.6%; Chart 1);
- The number of transactions reached a new peak at 1,178,000, a 15% increase compared with 2020, and a 10.4% increase compared with 2019 (Chart 2);
- The increase in market rates has not yet been reflected in the interest rates on housing loans, which continued to fall in 2021, reaching a historical low in December (1.06% on average), and rose only slightly at the beginning of 2022 (1.16% in April 2022; Chart 3);
- The annual production of housing loans amounted to EUR 273.7 billion in 2021, an 8.5% increase compared with 2020 and an 11% increase compared with 2019 (Chart 5). Excluding loan transfers and renegotiations, the new loan production even reached an all-time high at 224.8 billion in 2021, while the share of loan transfers and renegotiations fell by 5.7 percentage points (pts) to 17.9% (Chart 6). At the same time, outstanding housing loans grew by 6.8% over the year (Chart 7), while other loans to individuals increased by only 1.1%.