The PTZ which was to be abolished from January 1 “will be extended” for the whole year “because there is a collapse in real estate credit and we want as many households as possible to have access to a real estate loan while this becomes extraordinarily difficult with the increase in interest rates linked to inflation, Mr. Le Maire said on RTL.
“There were 20 billion euros in monthly credits, we fell to 10 billion”he observed.
“The maximum amount of the PTZ “will increase from 80,000 to 100,000 euros”the share that it can represent in relation to another loan taken out with the bank will increase “from 40% to 50% for low-income households”, according to him.
Furthermore, “the middle classes will be eligible”, while currently people earning between 2,500 and 4,000 euros are not entitled to it. “That’s six million more eligible people”according to Mr. Le Maire.
Finally the PTZ “will concern 210 more cities”detailed the minister, recalling that this loan concerns “the areas where there are the most difficulties in finding accommodation”. He cited “Bordeaux, Auxerre, Besançon, Bidart, Le Mans, Cournon d’Auvergne…” among the new eligible cities.
This will represent an effort for the State of 850 million euros. “This is proof that we wanted to tackle the problem head on” remarked Mr. Le Maire.
He also asked banks to “mobilize” and to grant households an interest-free loan of an amount equivalent to that of the State.
According to him, Crédit Agricole has already responded favorably to this request.
Mr. Mayor also wants “continue to work with the governor of the Banque de France to simplify the rules for granting credit”.
Without explicitly mentioning the ceiling of one third of income which currently constitutes the maximum sums borrowable for housing, the minister indicated “continue to work on relaxing the rules with the governor”.