Optimismen blandt Europas forbrugere vokser fortsat, og nu er der registreret stigende lån til køb af boliger, mens erhvervslivet låner mindre end forventer. Fremgangen drives altså af det private forbrug. Tallene i udlån – fra juli – viser, at virksomhederne tøver med at låne til investeringer. På årsbasis stiger optagelsen af realkreditlån til boliger med 5,7 pct., men det er dog betydeligt under de 9,5 pct. årlige lånestigninger i periolden 1999-2007.
Eurozone bank lending shows continued strength in the housing market
Consumers continue to borrow more for house purchases, while business borrowing remains underwhelming confirming the economic outlook will be mainly fuelled by consumer demand
In July, Eurozone private sector borrowing growth was steady at 3% and mainly driven by weaker corporate sector borrowing and strengthening household borrowing.
The weakness in corporate sector borrowing reflects the ample liquidity still held by businesses but also shows some reluctance to borrow for investment. The ECB bank lending survey had indicated an increasing appetite for borrowing for investment purposes, but we’re only seeing weak evidence for that at the moment despite economic activity rebounding and businesses returning to historically high levels of capacity utilisation.
Borrowing for mortgages remains the strongest contributor to private sector borrowing.
It slightly increased from last month’s annual rate and at 5.7% stands at the highest rate seen since 2008. In a market with rapidly rising prices, this sounds quite dramatic but keep in mind that this is still well below growth rates for mortgage borrowing seen in the 1999-2007 period. Back then, annual growth in mortgage borrowing averaged 9.5%, compared to which current borrowing is still modest.
