Uncertainty about the future and fears of recession: mortgage applications are slowing down in the province of Treviso, primarily from artisan companies for factories and machinery, but also from families for their first home. The figure communicated on Monday by CentroMarca Banca is emblematic: 260 fewer requests between August and October compared to the same period of 2021, a decline of 6.4% estimated at 7 million euros.
A contraction that affects the world of small and medium-sized enterprises for two thirds, strangled by bills, raw materials, inflation, and an increase in interest rates.
“And, above all, from the impossibility of making forecasts on the short-medium term”, underlines Claudio Alessandrini, general manager of CentroMarca Banca, “the slight decline in requests, which emerged after two years of growth, is certainly a sign of uncertainty, of clouds that are gathering on the horizon, of the risk of stagnation. A trend that will be better assessed in the coming months ».
Waiver of investments
The 260 “missing” questions largely coincide with artisan companies, a third with individuals and families. Loans which, in the case of businesses, may involve the purchase of property or machinery. “We know that some entrepreneurs have given up making investments due to the uncertainty of the moment and the change in interest rates”, adds Alessandrini, who guaranteed a ceiling of 20 million euros at subsidized rates to support the artisan world (we write about it apart from). Facade bonus and Superbonus 110% had propitiated, in the last two years, a leap in mortgage applications. But the increase turned out to be a will-o’-the-wisp. Since the end of the summer the trend has been changing, on the long wave of economic uncertainty, of the indecipherable future.
The families
A reversal of trend also noted by Banca della Marca, which sees discouraging signs precisely under the item “families”: “We are beginning to glimpse a beginning of a slowdown which from our observatory is primarily attributable to first home mortgages and attributable to the increase in rates », Comments Loris Sonego, president of Banca della Marca,« all while recording a positive year with growth in loans close to 4% ». At CentroMarca Banca the increase – on an annual basis – in loans is 2.3%, while the 14.8% increase in the use of current account credit is also a sign of growing malaise. “Signal of need for liquidity,” commented by the credit institution.
Appeal to the government
From the observatory of the Treviso-Belluno Chamber of Commerce, caution is invoked for the time being: “I have consulted several notaries and they have shown me an insignificant slowdown, such as not to generate alarm”, says President Mario Pozza, “of course, the rise in interest rates involve higher costs and the high bills affect whether or not to invest. However, we trust in the Aiuti-quater decree (against expensive energy, ed), we believe it can instill confidence. Even if we expect other interventions from the government: first of all the lightening of the wheelbarrow of documents, the de-bureaucracy. Trust, and therefore investments, also pass through these decisions ».