Aug 24, 2012

Austrian Leasing Business Shrinking

In the first half year of 2012, the Austrian leasing industry recorded a new leasing business of € 2.6bn. Against the reference period of 2011, this is a decrease by 19.2%.

In the first six months of 2012, 87,442 new contracts were registered. According to the Austrian leasing industry, the main reason of the shrinking new business is the cautiousness of many enterprises. The willingness to invest is going down as the overall uncertainty in Europe continues. Moreover, the long-term refinancing costs increase and liquidity costs are on the rise.About 69.2% of the domestic leasing business was recorded in the car leasing segment. The business volume reached € 1.8bn. Against the first six months of 2012, this is a decrease by 0.6%. The average contract amount came at € 22,461, which is a slight increase. About one third of the newly registered cars are financed by leasing.

Michael Steiner, President of the Federation of Austrian Leasing Companies explained that the first half year of 2012 was hit by the increasing uncertainty and the crisis in the Eurozone.

The business volume in the mobile leasing segment was down by 14.9% to € 566m.

In the real estate leasing segment, new business fell radically. With a decrease of 68.9%, the market almost collapsed. The new business volume reached € 226m. However, the Austrian real estate leasing segment shows a very high degree of volatility. Besides the austerity measures, the absence of major projects caused this remarkable slump.

SOURCE