The home mortgage firm fell 18.8% in July and the average interest rate shot up to 3.24%

The rise in rates and the rise in the Euribor bring the average interest on loans to its highest level in seven years

MADRID, 27 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The number of mortgages established on homes fell by 18.8% last July compared to the same month in 2022, totaling 29,223 loans, with an average interest rate that continued to rise, reaching 3.24%, its figure highest since August 2016, according to data released this Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

With the year-on-year decrease in July, the home mortgage firm has had six months of negative rates, although the rate in July has moderated by three points compared to that registered in June (-21.9%).

The total number of home loans recorded in July (29,223) is the second lowest figure since January 2021, only surpassed by April of this year, when just over 27,000 mortgages were established.

The average amount of mortgages constituted on homes fell by 2.6% year-on-year in the seventh month of the year, to 143,412 euros, while the capital lent decreased by 20.9%, reaching almost 4,191 million euros.

Following the policy of raising interest rates carried out by the European Central Bank (ECB) to try to contain inflation and the evolution of the Euribor, the average interest rate for all mortgage loans stood at 3.52%. in July, its highest figure since November 2014, with an average term of 24 years.

In the case of homes, the average interest was 3.24%, its highest value since August 2016, with an average term of 25 years. Compared to a year earlier, the average interest rate for home loans has increased by 1.32 points. It is the fourth consecutive month in which the interest rate exceeds 3%.

42.2% of home mortgages were signed last July at a variable rate, while 57.8% were signed at a fixed rate. The average interest rate at the beginning was 2.95% for variable rate home mortgages and 3.49% for fixed rate mortgages.