Household Credit Observatory: 38th Annual Report, Household Credit in November 2025 (Fédération Bancaire Française)

Summary

• The share of households holding credit fell to 40.4% in 2025, the lowest level since the Observatory was created.p.5
• Consumer credit holding fell to 18.1% in 2025, the lowest level recorded by the Observatory since 1989.p.9
• The share of households with high or far too high repayment burdens reached 14.9%, up from 11.3% in 2020.p.17
• Intentions to take out mortgages for the first half of 2026 fell to 2.8%, well below the long-run average of 4.6%.p.19
• The survey sample covered 13 000 households, of which 9 498 responded, a response rate of 73.1%.p.5

Key insights

1. The share of households holding credit fell to 40.4% in 2025, the seventh consecutive year of decline.p.5
2. The overall household credit holding rate fell from 46.5% in 2020 to 40.4% in 2025.p.8
3. Consumer credit holding fell to 18.1% in 2025, the lowest level since 1989.p.9
4. 22.3% of households hold only a mortgage, 6.4% hold both mortgage and consumer credit, and 11.7% hold only consumer credit.p.10
5. Consumer credit used to buy a car or motorbike fell to 9.8% of households in 2025, against 14.9% in 2021.p.13
6. 85.1% of households still found their repayment burdens supportable in 2025, slightly below the long-run average of 85.6%.p.17
7. The ratio of mortgage outstanding to household disposable income fell to 68.1% in 2025, against 75.1% on average over 2018 to 2022.p.19
8. Intentions to take out consumer credit for the first half of 2026 fell to 3.0%, against 4.1% over the long run.p.19