Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - Customers of the savings banks in the southwest are finding it increasingly difficult to save because of the high inflation. The banks felt that customers' ability to save was declining, said Peter Schneider, President of the Savings Banks Association of Baden-Württemberg, on Thursday in Stuttgart. "Meanwhile, around 40 percent of our private customers cannot put any money aside," says Schneider. Rising energy prices are yet to come. Schneider therefore assumed that half of the customers would soon need their income to cover their expenses.
As of the reporting date at the end of June, customer deposits had risen by 2.3 percent to EUR 165.6 billion within a twelve-month period, less than in previous years. According to the Savings Banks Association, commitments for new loans reached a new high of EUR 19.4 billion in the first half of the year.
The portfolio of real estate loans grew by 9.2 percent to EUR 85.6 billion compared to the end of June of the previous year. In view of rising interest rates, many customers have secured favorable financing options in recent months. According to Schneider, however, the "first signs of the brakes" are now appearing, for example when private customers do not call off promised loans due to the sharp rise in construction prices or higher financing costs due to rising interest rates weaken the demand for real estate loans.
