The rise in credit is becoming increasingly noticeable in the real estate sector. The granting of mortgages for the purchase of housing deepened its fall in May. In total, 33,398 loans of this type were registered, which represents a decrease of 24% in a year ago. The average amount of loans was also reduced, with 141,798 euros, and a fall of 4.6%, while the average interest rate on new mortgages has shot up to 3.15%, 1.34 points more than in the same month of 2022, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE). With the year-on-year decline, the home mortgage firm chains four months of negative rates after the 2% drop recorded in February, the 15.7% drop in March and the 18.3% drop in April. Compared to the previous month, however, an increase of 23.5% was recorded, although it is less than the 32.7% of a year ago.
In Galicia, 946 loans were formalized in May for the purchase of flats and houses. They were 36% less than in the same month last year, which is the second largest drop in the entire country, only behind the Canary Islands (42.4% drop). Financing was reduced even more, practically 40%, to 105.9 million. The community chains six months already to the drop in the granting of mortgages.
Following the hike in interest rates agreed by the European Central Bank (ECB) to contain inflation, the average interest rate for all mortgage loans stood at 3.5% in May, with an average term of 23 years. In the case of homes, the average interest was 3.15%, with a rise of 1.34 points compared to the same month in 2022 and with an average term of 25 years. The total capital lent for these purposes, 4,735.8 million euros, experienced a decrease of 27.5%.
In this context, variable-rate mortgages continue to gain ground and now account for 38% of new loans, compared to 62% for fixed-rate mortgages, which reached their ceiling a year ago, accounting for three out of four. The starting interest on variable-rate mortgages stands at an average of 2.79%, while that of fixed interest is 3.40%.
2023-07-22 10:06:00
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