What this rate measures
French banks report to the Banque de France the rate and amount of each new home loan to households. This page shows the ECB's composite of that data, the "cost of borrowing for households for house purchase", from the ECB's Data Portal. It averages the rates for each initial fixation period, weighting each by a 24-month moving average of new lending, so it is comparable with Germany, Spain and the other euro countries.
It is the agreed annual rate on the loan, the taux nominal. It leaves out arrangement fees, the guarantee and borrower insurance (assurance emprunteur), which in France are a real part of the cost. The rate a lender must show you, the TAEG, includes them, so a TAEG is always above the rate on this line.
How French mortgages are priced
The French model is unusual in Europe. A 2026 report of the Comité consultatif du secteur financier, published by the Banque de France, on how French households finance a main home records that 99% of home loans, new and outstanding, are at a fixed rate, repaid in equal instalments over the whole term. The lender, not you, carries the risk of rates rising. Many loans are backed by a guarantee from a mutual surety company (caution) rather than by a mortgage on the property.
Since the rate is fixed for the full term, banks price new loans from long-term market rates, which reflect expectations of the ECB deposit facility rate over many years. A change in ECB rates reaches you only if you are taking out or renegotiating a loan; a loan you already have does not move.
Two rules shape what you can borrow and at what price:
- The usury ceiling (taux d'usure). No loan may carry a TAEG above a legal maximum, which the Banque de France sets each quarter as the average rate charged in the previous quarter plus one third, by loan type. Because the TAEG includes insurance, a borrower whose insurance is expensive can be refused even when the bank would lend. From February to December 2023 the ceiling was revised monthly, as an exception, to keep up with rising rates.
- The HCSF rule. The Haut Conseil de stabilité financière's decision of 29 September 2021, binding on banks since 1 January 2022, caps a borrower's debt payments, insurance included, at 35% of income and the loan term at 25 years, with up to two more years of deferred repayment when the home is not yet ready to live in. Banks may exceed the limits for up to a fifth of each quarter's new lending.
Comparing it with a quote
This line is the market average across all loan lengths, so read it as the level of rates rather than your offer. Your rate depends on the term, your deposit, your income and the bank, and your total cost depends on the insurance too. Compare offers by their TAEG, and check that a quote sits under the usury ceiling for its category.
Put a quote into the mortgage calculator for France, check your payments against the 35% limit with the debt-to-income calculator, and weigh buying against renting with the rent vs buy calculator.
Reading the chart and the table
Each point is one month, dated the first of the month it covers, from January 2003. Because almost every French loan is fixed, the line moves more slowly than in countries where rates follow Euribor, such as Finland. Figures appear about five weeks after the month ends and recent months can be revised; the CSV download carries the ECB's own values.