Italian families are deeper and deeper in debt: the total amount they owe approaches 500 billion euros, says the Bank of Italy. According to the latest figures contained in a statement issued by the Central Bank, family loans at the end of January amounted to 498,999,000,000 euros, up from 468,918,000,000 in January 2009, corresponding to a 6.4% increase.

Both consumer goods consumption and mortgage loans went up. In the first of these two cases, debts have soared from 54 billion euros in 2009 to over 57 billion euros, while for house loans the debt rose to more than 282 billion, as against 264 billion last year. The amount of loans for other purposes is about 160 billion euros (up 10%). The interest rate on mortgages is falling – according to the Bank of Italy statement – with the APR (the actual annual percentage rate) now running at 2.89%, down from 3.01% in December. The official bank rate also fell, from 2.88% in December 2009 to 2.75% in January 2010.