Specifically, this reached 3.46%, compared to 3.32% in December, thus reaching its highest value since the end of 2014, when it stood at 3.50%, according to data released today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
With the year-on-year decrease in January, the home mortgage firm has had twelve months of negative rates, although the rate in January has been less pronounced than that recorded in the last month of last year (-17%).
The average amount of mortgages constituted on homes fell by 2.7% year-on-year in the first month of the year, to 138,149 euros, while the capital lent decreased by 12.7%, to 4,576.5 million euros.
Following the interest rate policy carried out by the European Central Bank (ECB) to try to contain inflation and the evolution of the Euribor, the average interest rate was 3.46% for mortgages constituted on homes, with a term average 24 years old.
Compared to a year before, the average interest rate for home loans has increased by eight tenths. It is the tenth consecutive month in which the interest rate exceeds 3%.
41.8% of the mortgages were established at a variable rate and 58.2% at a fixed rate. The average interest rate at the beginning was 3.24% for variable rate home mortgages and 3.64% for fixed rate mortgages.
Juan Villén, general director of idealista/mortgages, explains that “the data on home mortgages registered in January culminate the adjustment experienced during the year 2023, with generalized falls in the volume of operations, price increases, greater prominence of mixed mortgages and falls in the average amount financed”.
“But the leading indicators from this beginning of the year allow us to venture that the worst is already in the rearview mirror, and little by little we will see how transactions enter positive territory, with lower rates, somewhat higher amounts financed and a recovery of fixed mortgages compared to mixed and variable mortgages,” adds Villén.
For María Matos, Director of Studies at Fotocasa, she explains that “the year will probably be differentiated between two marked stages, the one before interest rates fall and the one after. If the forecasts of de-escalation in rates by the ECB are confirmed and begin in June, we will once again see how access to housing improves as the conditions for access to mortgage credit are lowered and how the demand that was kept waiting will return to the market with force.
“So 2024 will be a year that will go from less to more and in which we will once again see how the market is overstimulated by the mortgage fight that the banks will wage. Until then the granting of mortgages will remain stable in volume due to the incentive of the behavior of the Euribor, although in the year-on-year comparison it will continue to decline. A new mortgage war is expected between financial entities to achieve the greatest number of sales possible, as well as the return of fixed mortgages to the banking showcase,” concludes Matos.
