Economic conditions continue to weigh on the mortgage market. Up to 80% of those surveyed through the II Asufin Mortgage Barometer recognize that it is the uncertainty that is still evident and the decrease in income that prevents them from requesting a loan to acquire a home.
Deferred purchase decisions, at this time, mostly affect second homes for personal use, just over 41.2%, and change of habitual residence, 37%. On the contrary, the purchase of a house as an investment is the main reason for those who decide to take a mortgage, in 54.5% of cases.
However, the results of the survey also reveal a slight thaw in the market in the form of consumers who declare that they have reversed the decision to get a mortgage: although this percentage climbed to almost 10% more than a year ago (according to data from the I Asufin Barometer collected in the month of April), is now cut to 4%. This translates to nearly 39,000 families who have changed their minds and are now determined to address this financial decision.
Financial conditions continue to blow in favor of fixed mortgages, which are being promoted the most by entities: the average APR low from 3.15%, a year ago, to 2.88%, in products that do not require customer ties , and from 2.73% to 2.36%, in subsidized fixed mortgages. In the variable segment, however, the APR suffered a slight increase, from 2.4% to 2.66%, in mortgages without ties and from 2.33% to 2.35% in those that require the contracting of more products or services.
By entities, the best prices in APR terms (interest rate plus commissions and expenses) for fixed mortgages are found by Asufin in Openbank (1.7%), Banco Santander (2.24%), ING (2.43%) and BBVA (2.5%). In fixed lines that require contracting of other products or services (known as linkage), we have 1.5% APR from Ibercaja and Openbank and 1.68% from Kutxabank. The best prices for variable mortgages are found at 1.59% at Kutxabank, 2.3% at Banco Santander and 2.37% at Openbank. In variable mortgages with ties, the 1.37% of Banco Santander, 1.78% of Kutxabank and 2.15% of Openbank stand out.
The ASUFIN Mortgage Barometer incorporates as a novelty, in its second edition, the calculation of the Reverse Mortgage, the type of loan designed for the segment of elderly people who want to supplement their pension.
For this calculation, within the few options available to consumers in this market today, the products offered by Vitalitas, Óptima Mayores and Caser have been taken into account. If we take into account the average life expectancy (83.3 years in Spain) in those 13.3 years, an average beneficiary, 70 years old with a property valued at 270,000 euros, will receive a maximum of only 18.4% of the value of housing (17.6% at the minimum).
If he lived longer, the percentage would be higher, but always very low to guarantee the recovery of the property. In cases of very prolonged survival, it can deliver percentages of up to 30% -35% of the home, generating debts that would not exceed, except in very exceptional cases, 60% of the value of the home.
These products that actually articulate a loan against home ownership have APRs ranging from 7.04% for Vitalitas, 6.23% for Óptima Mayores and 5.87% for Caser.
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