According to a report by the French Obsevatoire du Crédit Logement, average interest rates offered to borrowers in October were 3.80% against 3.93% during the third quarter of 2009. Some 82.8 billion euros were lent during October to property buyers, and early 86% of all loans proposed were are rates between 3.5 and 4.5%.
The average length of the loan period is now 214 months (just less than 18 years), though slightly higher at 239 months (nearly 20 years) for new-builds and 227 months (just under 19 years) for older properties.
At the same time, further encouraging news from the European commission confirms that Europe is slowly rising out of recession, following a similar trend in the USA, thanks to measures taken by the European Central Bank, European governments and national banks. The Commission's Economic and Social Affairs spokesman Joaquin Almunia stressed however that further actions are necessary to control 'bank excesses' and in future 'to avoid their damaging effects on public spending, jobs and potential growth'.
(Source Le Figaro, 3 November 2009)