Status: 09/02/2022 10:53 a.m
The requirements for a real estate loan have become higher. Some banks are now taking a much closer look at real estate financing. The reason is the extremely high inflation.
For many people in Germany, the dream of owning their own home is becoming ever more distant. And that’s not just due to the rise in construction interest rates, which have tripled since January, or the high construction costs. In the meantime, the high inflation of 7.9 percent in August is also having a negative impact. It has a direct influence on the granting of real estate loans.
According to a survey by the dpa news agency, the financial institutions are looking among major banks and credit intermediaries when homebuyers apply for a loan. After that, the banks now set the flat rates for living expenses higher when checking the credit.
Not every loan request can be approved
“Due to the sharp rise in inflation, driven in particular by high energy prices, we had to adjust our minimum requirements for living and management costs as part of the credit rating,” said a spokesman for Deutsche Bank. Cost plays an important role in how much free income potential buyers have and their creditworthiness.
Commerzbank announced that it does not approve every loan request. “Increased financing costs and the cost of living mean that it may not be possible to meet every financing request.”
Buyers bring more equity with them
The banks emphasized that the proportion of rejected loans had hardly changed. But buyers are also bringing more and more equity with them because of the rise in interest rates, the credit brokers observed.
Buyers brought 159,000 euros in equity in the first six months of the current year, explained the credit broker Interhyp. A year earlier it was only 129,000 euros. In addition, in view of the tougher environment, customers chose a longer fixed interest rate: In the first six months of 2022, it was 14.1 years on average after 13.2 years in the first half of 2021.
Building rates are picking up again
Ingo Foitzik, Managing Director of construction financing at CHECK24, can confirm that banks have recently been more restrictive in lending. In addition, fewer and fewer customers could afford to take on very high financing sums. The reason for this is the rise in interest rates.
Because since mid-August, interest rates for ten-year home loans have been rising again. From their preliminary low of 2.31 percent in August, interest rates for ten-year home loans have recently risen to 2.79 percent. Financing expert Foitzik warns: “We are approaching the highs of over three percent from June”.