For months now, the usury rate – the maximum rate at which banks can lend – has drawn the ire of the real estate sector. Its evolution was closely analyzed in 2022 and 2023 as rates rose. The system, which aims to protect borrowers from excessively expensive loans, was accused by many professionals, including intermediaries, of discouraging banks from granting loans. Therefore, to prevent households from accessing loans.
In this period of falling home loan rates (starting at the end of 2023), there is no longer a need to hold the debate. For the second consecutive quarter, the usury rate of the most common loans, contracted for more than twenty years, fell from 6.16% to 5.85%, 1Ahem October 2024, but this drop is not worrying. “Usury rates are high enough that they are no longer a limitation for banks, borrowers no longer have to worry about it”says Pierre de Buhren, general director of the Empruntis broker.
However, usury continues to cause, this time due to a rarity: for this last quarter of 2024, the maximum rate for 20-year loans, 5.85% (insurance and expenses included), is well below that of loans for more than 10 years to 19. years, 6.03%. Since the Banque de France calculated usury levels differentiated by the duration of the loan (2017), this is the first time that this situation has occurred. It is true that the medium-term interest rate already exceeded the long-term rate in 2022, but the difference was small, three basis points, compared to the current 18.
However, credits are, logically, more expensive the longer they are. Usury rates, calculated by the Banque de France by increasing by one third the average rates applied by banks during the previous three months, also generally increase with the duration of the loans.
There is no error in the calculation, no modification of the calculation method or any particular correction, as decided by the Banque de France. : “The usury rate for fixed rate loans of 20 years or more is much lower than that of loans of 10 years to less than 20 years. This means that during the last observed period, the average rates (annual effective rates, APR) applied to loans of 20 years or more were lower than those for shorter durations (10 to 20 years).”
Should we deduce from this that in recent months banks have charged less for twenty-year loans than fifteen-year loans? No, responds the institution, specifying that “The “pure” component of the interest rate (the interest rate in the narrow sense) remains higher for longer durations.” She explains the situation by two factors: “The yield curve has flattened, interest rates at 20 or 25 years are not much higher than at 10 or 15 years” AND “Fees are lower for longer-term loans, because they pay off over longer periods. » These are costs that count towards the APR, like insurance.
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