German Mortgages: A Really Weak September
The volume of new German mortgages in September 2023 is around 24% down on the same period last year. This is surprisingly even worse than the August print (down 22% YoY) and also worse than the usual seasonal trend. September is down 15% on August, but is usually a rather flattish month.
Total new mortgage business of €12.3 bn is the worst value for any September since 2004. It is also the second weakest month since the ECB started hiking rates in July 2022.
So in a nutshell: September numbers were a big disappointment for all hoping for a recovery.