To buy a house in Italy you need more and more cash. The prices of the real estate market, which for the moment remain stable, have nothing to do with it, but the mortgages granted by the banks, which have been particularly weak in recent months. The average value of the loans was even less than half the price that customers had to pay for the property. Thus the "loan to value" (ie the ratio between the amount lent and the value of the house) fell to 49% for the first time. This was revealed by a survey by the Mutui.it Research Office, which analyzes the market trend in the last six months.
Between October and April the incidence of financing for the first home on the entire mortgage sector it went from 62 to 72%, while the average sum requested went from 143 to 139 thousand euros, down by 3%. The average amount disbursed, on the other hand, fell much more sharply (-13%), slipping from 127 to 112 thousand euros.
"As regards the purchase of the first home, we are below the psychological threshold of 50% - commented Lorenzo Bacca, business unit manager of Mutui.it - and this tells us that today, anyone who wants to buy their first home must have save more than half its value. It is a worrying fact that requires us to hope for a quick turnaround".
In general, however, the gap between the amount requested at the time of the estimate and the amount actually disbursed by the banks decreased by 11%, going from 17% to just 6%. As a result, the percentage of loans rejected by credit institutions has also decreased. This means that customers are asking for lighter mortgages, fearful of the prospect of a (multi) ten-year maxi-debt
“The Italians – continued Bacca – seem to be increasingly concrete or, perhaps, aware of the economic situation. The loan is granted for limited amounts (the latest survey indicates 121.000 euros as the average amount disbursed against an average request of around 125.000 euros) and aimed at financing a percentage of the property value which remains around 50%”.
However, there is at least one piece of good news for those who have yet to go to the counter. Euribor indices and Eurirs are only marking new historic lows: this means that the rates are between 3,6% and 4% for those who choose the variable solution and between 5,5% and 6% for those who prefer the safer (and more expensive) fixed rate.
