Demand for savings bank loans increases in eastern Germany

Consumers in eastern Germany once again took out more loans from savings banks in the first half of the year, especially for housing construction. In total, the savings banks in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony granted around 5.1 billion euros in loans, according to the East German Savings Banks Association.

Around half of this sum was lent for the construction of houses and apartments. This was three percent more than in the same period last year. The total amount of new loans fell by around one percent. However, demand for loans has picked up again, the association emphasized.

New lending business with private customers is growing

Loan commitments fell by more than a third in the first half of the previous year, mainly due to high interest rates, and by almost half in the case of personal loans. Now, new lending business with private individuals has increased again by just under nine percent, and by three percent in residential construction. Only in the case of companies and the self-employed did loan commitments fall by ten percent.

A turnaround also seems to be emerging in the deposit business. According to Wolfgang Zender, Managing Director of the association, people apparently no longer need to draw on reserves to such an extent in order to cope with the rising cost of living due to inflation.

According to the report, total customer deposits fell slightly by 0.4 percent to around 129.4 billion euros. In the same period last year, the decline was almost two percent.