Baptiste Morin / Photo credit: Mathieu Thomasset / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
3:18 p.m., May 10, 2024
A bill, tabled by a member of the majority, aims to generalize the portability of a real estate loan. Through this principle, an owner will be able to finance the purchase of a new property only with the sale of the old one. Since 2016, and the fall in rates, this portability has disappeared.
What if, in the event of the sale of a property, you no longer needed to take out a new loan to buy another? This is the meaning of a bill, tabled by a member of the majority, which aims to generalize this principle of portability of a real estate loan. The borrower could thus continue to benefit from a more advantageous rate.
This portability already exists, but it must be the subject of a clause. However, since 2016 and the fall in rates, this principle has disappeared. “From the moment we had very low-paying loans, the banks stopped putting clauses in the loans. And then, in the event of a rise in rates, these loans cost them money,” explains Caroline Arnould from the Cafpi broker.
“Banks are not intended to lose credit”
For Renaissance MP Damien Adam, behind this bill, portability would help unblock the real estate market. The amount of new credit reached its lowest level in ten years in March, largely because borrowing now costs three times more than it did two years ago.
But this generalization of portability could, in return, cause an increase in rates, warns Caroline Arnould. “The banks buy silver, it has a cost. They are not intended to sell credits at a loss where they have had, in recent years, significant margins.” Let us also remember that the average rate has been falling for four months and that it will fall further if the ECB lowers its rate next month.
