FRANKFURT- Euro zone households are applying for loans in growing numbers for the first time in two years as they grow more optimistic about the economy and interest rates fall, a European Central Bank survey showed on Tuesday.
The ECB began cutting interest rates in June but borrowing costs on financial markets started falling well before then, slowly making credit more attractive.
A net 16 percent of lenders polled in the ECB’s Bank Lending Survey (BLS) reported an increase in demand for loans from households in the three months to June, the first such increase since 2022, and respondents expect this trend to continue this quarter.
“Improving housing market prospects, cited primarily by German banks, were the main driver of the increase in housing loan demand,” the ECB said. “The general level of interest rates and consumer confidence had a smaller positive impact.”
