The European leasing market continued to grow in the first half of 2019, but at a slower rate than seen in the previous year, according to latest figures from Leaseurope.
The H1 2019 results revealed total leasing volumes reaches €183.1bn – a 3.4% increase on the same period last year. The upward market trend slowed in the first half of the year, apart from the real estate business.
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Real estate leasing experienced a surge of 21.5% in new business volumes for the first half of 2019, with large geographical variations ranging from significant gains in some markets to double digit drops in new volumes over the same period.
Vehicle and equipment leasing expanded by 4.3% and 3.1% respectively over the period.
Leaseurope’s senior adviser in statistic and economic affairs Jurgita Bucyte said: “It’s encouraging that the European leasing market, especially in 2018, benefited from good performance in the major leasing sectors including automotive, machinery and industrial equipment as well as computers and business machines, albeit at somewhat slower rates than the previous year.
“This widespread growth may be explained by business investment becoming more balanced across asset classes for equipment. Total investment has reached pre-crisis long term averages, but ten years of under investment left a backlog in terms of capital stocks based on the EIBIS survey. On the back of improved investment, European lessors have observed increasing. On the back of improved investment, European lessors have observed increasing,” she added.
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By GlobalDataLaimonas Belickas, chair of Leaseurope’s statistics committee said it is good to see the European leasing market showing strength in new business. “The positive dynamics are however somewhat tempered by the challenge for many lessors to further expand the use of leasing across Europe and to adapt to the increased cost of regulation. Moreover, it is likely that protracted manufacturing weakness, global trade tensions and elevated uncertainty continue to weigh on business investment decisions, despite an extended period of favourable financing conditions.
“On a positive note, evidence demonstrates that firms, especially SMEs, show an increasing demand for leasing, suggesting that they may invest in new assets, be it for replacement needs or capacity expansion activities. Therefore, lessors should be prepared to seize opportunities in view of a more cautious outlook on the strength of the economy heading into 2020,” he added.
