In 2025, the number of payments made using cards issued by German payment service providers rose significantly. There were around 14.5 billion card payments in total, 11 percent more than in the previous year. 

German banks tightened their credit standards for loans to enterprises, for housing loans to households as well as for consumer credit and other loans to households in the second quarter 2026.

German households’ financial assets decreased in the first quarter of 2026. At the end of the quarter, they amounted to €9,490 billion and were thus €28 billion lower than at the end of 2025. This was attributable mainly to negative valuation effects. Households’ financial assets grew by €94 billion in net terms. However, this was insufficient to offset valuation losses totalling €122 billion.

Germany's current account recorded a surplus of €10.4 billion in May 2026. The figure was €6.2 billion lower than the previous month's level.

In 2025, for the first time, people in Germany used cashless means of payment to pay for their day-to-day purchases more frequently than cash. According to the Bundesbank’s latest study on payment behaviour, 55 % of all recorded purchases were settled without cash in 2025. The trend towards cashless payments is continuing, explained Executive Board member Burkhard Balz at the presentation of the results.

The war in the Middle East is weighing on the German economy and will initially slow down the recovery that began in the winter half-year, the Bundesbank’s latest Forecast for Germany states. Nevertheless, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel is confident: Economic activity will gain traction again over our forecast horizon up to 2028, he said when presenting the Bundesbank’s new Forecast for Germany. The forecast projects that the inflation rate will rise to almost 3% in 2026 and 2027, only returning to just below 2% in 2028.

In April 2026, Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €13.8 billion, down €10.7 billion on the previous month’s level. This was attributable to lower surpluses in the goods account and in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income. 

Germany’s current account recorded a surplus of €23.6 billion in March 2026. This was €3.1 billion up on the previous month’s level. The goods account surplus decreased, but the surplus in invisible current transactions, which comprise services as well as primary and secondary income, increased more strongly.

Commercial property prices in Germany increased by 2.1 % on the year in the first quarter of 2026. This means the rise that had begun in mid-2024 continued almost unchanged.