Euro zone banks lower bar on mortgages but demand keeps falling
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/euro-zone-banks-lower-bar-mortgages-demand-keeps-falling-ecb-2024-04-09/
Euro zone banks lowered the bar on mortgage approvals last quarter for the first time in over two years but demand for credit kept falling amid high borrowing costs and a stagnant economy, a European Central bank survey showed on Tuesday.
The ECB has pushed interest rates to record highs to rein in inflation, bringing bank credit growth in the 20 countries that share the euro to a standstill.
While banks were slowly turning less cautious – at least about extending home loans – households and companies showed little appetite for taking on fresh debt, the ECB’s quarterly Bank Lending Survey showed.
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