counts for the growth of the mortgage credit market. The Government stimulates the purchase of houses for owner- occupation in many ways, to that such income brackets that could not take the step towards a house of their own in the past can now cross the threshold. This development, however, is also attended with risks: Many people start from the assumption that on selling the house they will, in terms of real purchasing power, always get a higher price. Now that the growth of our economy is levelling off and private spendable income is being worn away, this will, we think, be bound to have an adverse effect on the soaring prices of houses. If this should be the case, those who will suffer will be those groups who cannot afford to leave their houses unoccupied on moving out or have to be satisfied with a lower selling price. The private home may then become a drag on labour mobility, for which we shall have to leave scope for the sake of optimum employment. Already now the stimulation of house-building for owner-occupation has given rise to problems among the financially weakest category. Many of these problems - we have in mind especially the municipal guarantee regulations - can be avoided if the Government, before issuing its measures, consults with private industry, which has been engaged professionally in the financing of real estate for many years. At the same time, the finance institutions, which in their efforts to grab as big a share in the market for residential mortgages as possible seem to outbid each other in granting credit, should also be aware of their social responsibility. Especially those types of mortgage where the annual burden to the debtor rises considerably during a certain period of time, we do not consider justified in the majority of cases, as they anticipate a continuing growth in income. In the sector of industrial mortgage credit there was a brisk demand in 1976 as well. In a time of progressive inflation and, on the whole, a fairly un profitable industry the real net worth is being used up and self financing is only possible to a very limited degree. Under these conditions the mortgage financing, where the lender primarily finds his security in the mortgaged real estate, is an attractive possibility of attracting loan capital. In a time of growing competition in the mortgage credit market we have, as it were, gradually shifted the stress from ready-made to made-to-measure mortgages. In this way we think we shall be able to employ the know-how present in our company in the best manner

Rabobank Bronnenarchief

Annual Reports FGH Bank | 1976 | | pagina 16