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ABI, home loan rates still falling: 3.36% in March

The association's bulletin: loans up (+2.4%), back to November 2022 levels

by Rome Editorial Staff

18 April 2026

ABI Associazione Bancaria Italiana (Imagoeconomica)

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Bank loans
The collection
Falling interest rates

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The path of loan growth that started in March 2025 continues: last month, the amount of loans to businesses and households grew by 2.4% year-on-year (it had been +2.2% in February). Lending levels thus returned to November 2022 values. The average rate on new home purchase transactions fell: in March it was at 3.36% (from 3.44% in the previous month). This is what emerges from the monthly report by Abi, the Italian banking association.

Bank loans

Loan growth in March marks the fifteenth consecutive month of increase for households; for businesses the ninth. In February 2026, loans to households had increased by 2.6%, those to businesses by 1.8%.

The Collection

Indirect deposits (investments in securities held at banks) increased by EUR 78.8bn between February 2025 and February 2026 (EUR 30.2bn households, EUR 15bn corporates and the remainder to other sectors, financial companies, insurance companies, public administration).

Total direct funding (deposits from resident customers and bonds) in March 2026 increased by 2.6% year-on-year, continuing the positive trend recorded since the beginning of 2024 (+3.8% in the previous month).

In March 2026, deposits, in their various forms, grew by 2.7% year-on-year (+4.3% the previous month). Medium- and long-term funding, through bonds, increased by 1.5% in March 2026 compared to a year earlier (+0.6% in the previous month).

Falling interest rates

Last month, the average rate on total loans (i.e. taken out over the years) was 3.98%, the same as in February. On the other hand, both the average rate on new business loans fell (to 3.26% from 3.33% the previous month), as did the average rate on new home purchase loans: from 3.44% in February to 3.36%. In December 2023 it was 4.42%.

Impaired loans

In February 2026, net impaired loans (i.e. the total of non-performing loans, probable defaults and exposures past due and/or in arrears calculated net of write-downs and provisions already made by banks) amounted to EUR 27.6 billion, down from EUR 30 billion in September 2025. Compared to their peak level, 196.3 billion reached in 2015, they are down by almost 169 billion. An item representing 1.32% of total loans (in September 2025 it was 1.43%, in December 2015 9.8%).