In the period, 57,327 home sales were formalized, the highest figure in a month of August since 2007
Neither the rise in interest rates nor the inflationary crisis have yet succeeded in curbing the pull in the housing market. The INE statistics for the month of August show how both the sale of homes and the signing of mortgages maintain double-digit growth in August, predictably given the decision of many buyers to advance these operations given the evidence that credit will continue to become more expensive in the next few months.
The trend is evident. In the first eight months of the year, the number of mortgages to buy a home has increased by 14.2%. For its part, and according to the INE, the borrowed capital has increased by 22.4%
If only August is taken into account, the number of loans increased by 10.5% year-on-year, accumulating 18 consecutive months on the rise. In the period, the borrowed capital grew by 16.4%.
It is also noticeable how banks are taking advantage of the rise in the Euribor to make their fixed-rate mortgages less attractive and try to transfer customers to variable loans, which are more profitable for entities in an environment of rising interest rates. Specifically, 71.9% of the new home mortgages that were signed in August were at a fixed interest rate. It is still a very high percentage. But it is also the lowest since January 2022.
The average interest rate on mortgages was 2.52%, 1.27 points higher than the average Euribor for that month, which was 0.99%. The average fixed rate stood at 2.71%, while the variable rate loans are already around 2.09%.
Regarding the sale of homes, it rose 14.9% last August compared to the same month of 2021, to add 57,327 operations, its highest figure in a month of August since 2007, when 58,800 sales were exceeded, according to The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported this Wednesday.
With the year-on-year advance in August, the sale of homes has chained 18 consecutive months of positive rates. The growth of operations has expanded by almost seven points compared to the year-on-year rise in July, when home sales increased by 8%.
The year-on-year growth in home sales in August was a consequence of the 17% increase in operations on used homes, up to 47,206 sales, and the rise, by 6.1%, in operations on new flats, up to a total of 10,121 transactions.
In the first eight months of the year, the sale of homes has increased by 20%, with increases of 22.8% in the case of second-hand homes and 8.7% in new homes.
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