Eurozone demand for home loans has turned positive for the first time since early 2006, while businesses are seeing a “turning point” in the increasingly tough conditions imposed on bank loans, according to a European Central Bank report.

Consumers became markedly less pessimistic about housing market prospects in the second quarter of this year, and the pace at which credit standards were tightened on mortgages fell again, the ECB’s latest bank lending survey showed on Wednesday. Meanwhile, credit standards for companies were tightened at a much slower pace than in the previous three quarters, said the closely watched report.