The mortgage market in Spain faces a record end to 2024 after several rate cuts undertaken by the ECB throughout the year. According to provisional data published today by the INE, in October the number of mortgages created was a 60.8% higher than in the same month of 2023. There were a total of 51,535 operations whose average amount was in the 150,556 euros, which represents an increase of 7.3%.
The more sales, the higher the prices, even more so in a country that is experiencing a serious housing shortage. After the second rate reduction undertaken by the ECB – the third was in mid-October and the fourth in December – in October the average interest rate remained at 3.12% and the average term was 25 years. In turn, 37.4% of home mortgages were established at a variable rate and 62.6% at a fixed rate, with an average interest at the beginning of 2.83% for the former and 3.32% for the second ones.
The data show that in October the predominance of fixed rate mortgages over variable mortgages continued, with data similar to September. Despite this, experts point to an increase in variables towards the end of the year due to the downward evolution of the Euribor, which until summer was at values that made consumers flee from variable contracts.
On the other hand, the total number of mortgages with changes in their conditions registered in the property registries decreased by 1.9% in October at an annual rate. Novations (or modifications with the same financial institution) increased by 13.9%. On the contrary, subrogations to the debtor (change of ownership) decreased by 38.9% and subrogations to the creditor (change of entity) by 80.1%. 95.3% of the 11,850 mortgages with changes in their conditions were due to changes in interest rates, the INE has reported.
By autonomous communities, The highest annual variation rates occurred in the Principality of Asturias (140.1%), Aragón (122.1%) and Galicia (89.9%).. For their part, those that presented the smallest increases were the Canary Islands (1.0%), Comunidad Foral de Navarra (20.3%) and Catalonia (54.3%).
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