According to the Bank of Portugal, the volume of residential mortgages rose by 4% to August 2020. The results also indicate that the pace of lending to companies slowed once again and that corporate deposits reached a new high.
The total amount of loans granted to households for housing in August 2021 grew by 4% compared to August 2020, reaching €95.6 billion. These loans had increased by 3.9% in the previous month.
Consumer loans grew 1.3% year-on-year in August 2020 to €19 billion (vs 1.6% in the previous month).
In turn, the total amount of loans granted by banks to companies in August 2021 grew by 5.2% y-o-y, to €76.2 billion (vs 5.9% in July).
Deposits held by households at banks in Portugal grew by 7.1% year-on-year to €169.3 billion in August 2020 (vs 6.6% in the previous month). Portuguese residents have been increasing their savings with banks since March 2020, accompanying a trend common to the euro area as a whole.
The Bank of Portugal stated that “since May 2020, the volume of deposits companies are holding with banks resident in Portugal has grown more than 14%. In August 2021, these deposits grew by 16.3% year-on-year to €58.8 billion (vs 14.8% in the previous month), reaching a new all-time high.”