Mortgage Credit Standards: German Banks With Average Tightening
Recent discussions have highlighted the trend for financial institutions to tighten credit standards, especially for housing loans. Given the confluence of challenging external factors, this move is not surprising. In this context, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Bank Lending Survey is of upmost importance. This survey gathers insights from the chief credit officers of 157 leading banks in the euro area.
The chart below shows the weighted average of banks that have tightened their credit standards for corporate loans over the past two years:
– 1Almost all countries (16 of 17) have tightened credit standards of mortgage loans.
– Banks in Luxembourg have been the most stringent in this respect by a wide margin.
– In contrast, Greek banks have remained net neutral on mortgage loans.
– German financial institutions have shown a fairly average degree of tightening.
Note of Caution: It is important to treat these results as every survey with caution, as they may be interpreted differently depending on a number of factors.