In the nine months of 2025 credit disbursements to Italian families they increased by 4.4%, still increasing after the +7.2% of the same period in 2024, supported by personal loans and above all by the transfer of one fifth of the salary and pension, while the slowdown in car financing reduced the total growth compared to last year. As emerges from the Retail Credit Observatory of Assofin, Crif and Prometeiademand remained positive, favored by the reversal of the monetary policies of the ECB which began cutting rates in June 2024 and by the stabilization of inflation.
Prudent consumption and increasing savings
Table of Contents
«No requests for financing have been oriented towards the intended loans to the most relevant life projectsa project that was interrupted in previous years, within an overall positive picture of the labor market in which, however, a high degree of uncertainty that pushes towards more prudent consumption and greater savings», observes Kirsten van Toorenburg, head of statistics, research and training at Assofin. In detail of the individual items, personal loans (+10.2% after +11.2% in 2024) continued to drive the market, including the European one, consolidating the recovery path that began at the end of 2023, also supported by online disbursements. It registers also a double-digit increase for loans linked to the transfer of one fifth of the salary or pension with a return to profits compared to 2024 (+10.5% in the first nine months of 2025 from -0.2% last year), driven by operations towards employees, both in the private and public sectors.
Car loans, trend reversal
On the other hand they mark a contraction the finalized financing. In particular, those for the purchase of cars and motorcycles supplied to private individuals from dealers reverse the trend (-2.5%, from +7.8%), which were affected by the decline in financing for the purchase of new cars, due to the registration crisis, while loans for used cars remained stable. They remain stable (-0.1% compared to the nine months of 2024) financing aimed at purchasing other goods/services (such as furniture, electronics and household appliances, goods for the energy efficiency of the home, mopeds and other goods and services) despite the positive contribution of small ticket credit lines (for small amounts) to support e-commerce and in-store purchases. The value of installment payments also drops via credit cards (-1.3% from +2.2% in 2024), despite the good performance of installation operations, a function that allows the financing of one or more expenses through a predefined amount and repayment plan. «It must be said that these values do not yet include the volumes relating to operations di buy now pay later which, as per the regulations, will become a form of consumer credit from November 2026″, underlines van Toorenburg.
The dynamics in home silent films
With regard to home mortgagesthe trend emerging from the observatory is positive and confirming the dynamism of sales. In the nine months the real estate loan sector saw growth in flows (+30.4%), with a marked acceleration over the nine months of 2024 (+14.2%), thanks to favorable offering conditions, following the ECB’s rate cuts. In detail, there was a clear increase (+29%) in mortgages for home purchase, which represent over 80% of total disbursements, to which the offer of green mortgages also contributed.
First signs of a slowdown in surrogacy
This evolution has had a positive impact on residential sales which are once again showing growth. Furthermore, it continued family activity towards surrogacy (+51.3%), to reduce the costs of mortgages taken out in the period of strong rate increases. It is observed, however, a narrowing of the share of this typethe first sign of the thinning out of existing substitutable contracts.
Low risks
How much to credit risk total, remains very low (1.5% in September 2025). And on the front of forecasts, the analysis finds that in a context of growth conditioned by international tensions, the market will consolidate from 2026 while maintaining a level of risk under control. (reproduction reserved)
