Experts highlight that low interest rates allow acquiring a financial commitment for the acquisition or construction of a home
The lowest interest rates in the last two decades and the range of products that were launched by the banks to face the health crisis, made it possible that mortgage credit in Mexico did not fall and that today it stands as successful at despite adversity but with many challenges ahead.
In a special transmission #DialogosEnConcreto on the occasion of the Construction Day, organized by #GrupoEnConcreto, on the occasion of the celebration of the Santa Cruz, Enrique Margain, coordinator of the Mortgage Committee of the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM), specified that the Mortgage portfolio, today has a value of 2.8 million pesos, more than 8 million loans, the main one being Infonavit with 54% of the total and commercial banking 35%, reaching over a billion pesos and more than one million 300 thousand mortgages on bank balance sheets.
Likewise, the delinquency of the banking portfolio stands at over 3.5%, supported by the programs it incorporated, derived from the pandemic in April of last year. However, he mentioned that it is necessary to accelerate the pace in the number of mortgage loans, since although 2020 was a good year in terms of placement, there were fewer, that is, 514 thousand and approximately 190 thousand new homes were sold.
“The market in the part of loan origination has been getting smaller, we need again to look for how to give financing to the segment of the population that has not had access to mortgage credit.
“There is a lot of talk about the non-affiliated market or those who do not have a housing program and see, especially in the lower-income segment, how they can be given financing. The bank mortgage placement in 2020 was good, 123 thousand loans, 9.9 less than the previous year and in terms of the amount placed it was 1.9% more ”, he highlighted.
When moderating the table “Credit Situation”, Margain mentioned that a recovery is beginning to be seen, people are paying and this has been thanks to the fact that the bank restructured in cases where there were payment problems, which was positive to increase portability mortgage and reduction in the financial burden for families.
In that sense, he said that 2021 started in a positive way, with a growth of 2.3 in the number of mortgage loans and with an increase in the amount placed of 17%, that is, the average bank loan goes from 1.5 to 1.7 million of pesos, home purchase loans with a slight decrease of 3%, the expansion and improvement with strong growth, payment of liabilities with strength representing 8% of the bank mortgage placement over 16 thousand 500 million pesos in the last 12 months and liquidity credits have been taken with great caution.
Healthy credit sector
For his part, Antonio Artigues, executive director of Retail Banking at Grupo Santander, indicated that the credit sector is very healthy, dynamic, with good portfolios and, proof of this, its good results.
“It is a trend that continues and I believe that the perspective of 2021 I see it in line, we are in a moment of unique rates in the last two decades that give certainty, as a sector we took a step forward, mortgage credit is a product very dynamic, especially in recent months in terms of destinations, offers, adjustments to customer profiles and it has been a moment that has favored, accompanied by good credit performance and the stability of the markets, so without any doubt, the placement records, ”he mentioned.
Labor certainty is fundamental
In his opportunity, Ricardo García Conde, executive director of Mortgage and Automotive Banking at Citi Banamex, specified that labor certainty is essential to make decisions regarding the acquisition of a loan and access in Mexico is given for formality, therefore that appealed to more and more people to join for benefits.
“Pay taxes and can have these benefits to close that gap of formality and informality. Another gap that is opening is with young people where the curve of their salary will make it increasingly difficult for them to acquire a loan and those are the challenges, I would love to have the solutions, “he mentioned.
Lower rates than ever
In turn, Pablo Sadek González, BBVA Mexico’s Director of Mortgage Banking Business Development, highlighted that it is an excellent time to take out a loan in this area.
“Interest rates are lower than ever, the cost of long-term money in the last month has grown by 30%, so that begins to tighten the loan rates and we do not know how long they will last so now there is To take advantage of, properties continue to increase their level and it is still a good long-term investment to acquire a property, rent it and also live it because over time it will generate an aggregate level ”, he said.
He explained that in 2020, average residential homes grew their prices around 5% and used housing 5.7%, so he insisted that it is a good option, in addition to the fact that with the pandemic, liquidity is required and when selling there is an opportunity and Now, since you are working more at home than before, it is a good time to look for a home where there are more comforts, have a terrace, a garden, and so on.
Still missing for full digitization in mortgages
For her part, Cistina Porras, regional director of Banregio, explained in the panel that although the migration process towards digital issues, restructuring, and other procedures accelerated, it is possible that Mexico has one hundred percent digitized mortgages.
“During the pandemic, digital issues helped us distribute or deliver support and the part of bank loans is very polished to compare different credit conditions, capture general data, upload information digitally to feed the systems of the Bank.
“But we are still very far from the 100% digital mortgage not because we lack technology, but because we lack the issue of digital identification to avoid impersonation, access to government platforms to obtain customer information, the formalization of the economy to make the income verification easier and the most complicated thing is in the legal part regarding the signature and digital processes totally using technology ”, he specified.
In that sense, he stressed that the pandemic revealed that there is a digital divide where it is necessary to work and as a country to invest in broadband placement in some parts of the country and more Mexicans have technology.
“This when we achieve it will allow us to reduce costs in a very important way, which translates into benefits for the end customer and hopefully as a union, civil society, government, we can push and migrate towards that quality of life for the benefit of many Mexicans, “he added.
The new Infonavit Law
Later, Paulina Prieto, vice president of Mortgage and Automotive Credit at Scotiabank, mentioned that the challenges presented by the new Infonavit Law is to cover the 20 million beneficiaries where the housing gap is not covered by providing only 11 million loans.
Therefore, the “More Credit” product that will give an opportunity to those who were listed on Infonavit and who have a balance in the housing subaccount to be able to use it in the acquisition of a property, together with a bank loan, which could help more than 66 million housing subaccount.
Self-production said that it is also a challenge because you have to see how the rules come about and be able to give a loan to whoever wants to build a house and you must be careful to guarantee the ordering of the house. That is why banks have the challenge of formalizing the informal, starting with banking them.
Programs attended emergency
Finally, Roberto Gándara, director of Mortgage Credit at Banorte, pointed out that after more than a year with the issue of the pandemic, the support programs implemented in March of last year have served to contain the overdue portfolio that in the case of the financial institution they represent is 1% which places them within the healthiest portfolios in the industry and the market.
“Even a year later, we are very proud, the industry standard programs of 4 months deferral were established, six months in some cases and after those programs the banks, each one managed their portfolios differently but always looking for these support to clients and in the case of Banorte, the programs made clients react well and what we are seeing is that all clients are leaving these programs and we gave them a break to stabilize, ”he said.
In this environment, the banking panelists agreed that the outlook looks favorable for the coming months and the credit market continues with a firm dynamism as it had before the pandemic, which shows its strength and consistency.
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