According to the 2024 credit market monitoring report, banks accepted 60,491 renegotiations involving 55,008 credit contracts, reflecting a 60.6% decrease compared to the previous year.
The total amount of renegotiated credits amounted to approximately 6.5 billion euros, down 62% from the 2023 figure.
In the preceding year, banks executed 153,692 renegotiations associated with 143,493 contracts, encompassing loans worth 17.022 billion euros.
“This trend follows a significant increase in renegotiations in 2023 and in a macroeconomic context that enabled a rise in household disposable income and borrowing capacity, reducing the necessity for renegotiating housing credit contracts,” explained the central bank.
On average, the renegotiated amount was 107,300 euros, compared to 110,700 euros in 2023.
The BdP noted an increase in the proportion of renegotiated contracts where borrowers were not in default (97.7% in 2024, compared to 90.7% in 2023).
The number of renegotiations accounted for 4.2% of contracts on file by the end of 2024, compared to 10.7% in the previous year.
In more than half (56.3%) of the renegotiations conducted in 2024, only one contractual condition was altered, predominantly the spread of the contract (54.5% of all renegotiations). According to the BdP, this “can partly be attributed to campaigns by credit institutions and the proactive efforts of borrowers to reduce their monthly housing loan payments.”
About 18% of renegotiations involved changes to two contractual conditions (e.g., the spread and other terms with financial effects, such as a change in the index or defining a lower installment for a period, but not the term or type of interest rate).
In 25.8% of renegotiations, more than two financial conditions were altered.
The BdP report also reveals that the number of early repayments made by customers to banks decreased in 2024, following a “significant increase in 2023.”
The number of early repayments (total or partial) fell by 26.1% compared to 2023, from 247,274 to 182,624, leading to a reduction of 19.6% in the amortized amount, from 11.228 billion euros to 9.033 billion.
Of the 182,624 early payments, 105,054 were total reimbursements, while 77,570 were partial.
The decrease “occurs in a context of declining interest rates applicable to housing credit contracts,” which reduced “incentives for early credit repayments,” the BdP noted.
“The average amount per repayment increased from 45,408 euros in 2023 to 49,461 euros in 2024, due to total repayments, as the reduction in the number of total repayments was greater than the reduction in the amount repaid,” the central bank further indicated.
