This year the income of Italian families will drop by more than 2,5%. A fall greater than that recorded during the 2009 recession. The deputy director of the Bank of Italy, Salvatore Rossi, sounded the alarm, speaking at the conference "Credit to credit" organized by Abi-Assofin.
“For Italian families we are in the fifth year of a reduction in real income, which had already fallen by 2008% between 2011 and 5 – said Rossi -. This year there is an even more marked decrease than the 2,5% decrease that occurred during the 2009 recession”. Households, therefore, “resize or postpone the purchase of homes and consumer durables and consequently reduce their demand for bank loans. These, for their part, are induced to contain the dynamics of the credit offered. Customer evaluation becomes more selective, in order to reduce the riskiness of loans”.
ISTAT: OCTOBER WAGES +0,2% ON MONTH, +1,5% ON YEAR
According to the latest Istat data, in October the index of hourly contractual wages recorded an increase of 0,2% compared to the previous month and of 1,5% compared to October 2011. Average for the period January-October 2012 the index grew by 1,5% compared to the same period of the previous year.
As for the main macro-sectors, in October contractual hourly wages recorded a trend increase of 2,1% for employees in the private sector and a zero change for those in the public administration.
The sectors that show the greatest trend increases in October are: water and waste disposal services (3,0%), electricity and gas (2,9%), textiles, clothing and leather processing (2,8%). On the other hand, no changes were recorded for telecommunications and all sectors of the public administration.
BANKITALIA: THE CREDIT STRENGTH IS WORSEN FOR FAMILIES
Credit to households, “after a long period of strong expansion, is showing signs of difficulty – explained Rossi -. Existing loans are, albeit slowly, contracting, new disbursements are much smaller than in previous years. The deceleration of loans to Italian households has accentuated. The trend finally turned negative in the third quarter of this year, when total loans (excluding bad debts) were 1% lower than a year earlier”.
MORTGAGES DOWN UNTIL MID-2013
Again according to Bank of Italy estimates, “the decline in real estate mortgages will continue in the coming months, at least until mid-2013 – underlined Rossi -, despite historically low interest rates. The APR on new mortgages is close to 4%, a level not very different from that of the first part of the last decade, when credit for the purchase of homes grew at a very rapid pace”.
