Real estate portals observe a slowdown in the increase in mortgage signing

MADRID, 24 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The real estate portals observe a slowdown in the pace of mortgage signatures, despite the fact that in April they increased by 4.5% compared to the same month of the previous year, to add 33,423 loans, the highest figure for April since 2010, according to data published this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The head of idealista/mortgages, Juan Villén, maintains that "April already shows the announced slowdown in growth compared to the beginning of the year" and estimates that this trend will continue in the coming months.

Villén points out that the statistics for April still do not reflect the rise in prices that banks are beginning to apply in the face of the next rate hike and the inflationary environment.

For his part, the director of Estudios de piso.com, Ferran Font, agrees that "the number of mortgages continues to rise, but in April the impact of inflation and the moderation in the number of operations compared to to previous years."

"With the recent variations of the Euribor, changes in the conditions of the mortgage loans granted continue to be appreciated. In the mortgages constituted on dwellings, the average interest rate was 2.52%, in line with the previous months, but continued increasing the signing of fixed-rate mortgages, which already account for 75.3%, an increase of almost 3 percentage points compared to March, due to 24.7% of variable-rate mortgages," Font specifies.

From Fotocasa, its spokesperson and director of Studies, María Matos, confirms that the year "continues to be very dynamic" in the constitution of mortgages, but the activity already reflects "a moderation in the growth trend that it presented for several months".

"It was to be expected that little by little they were tempering, due to the context of runaway inflation that causes the savings rate of families to be reduced and the change of strategy by financial entities, making variable mortgages more attractive and making the mortgages more expensive. fixed, which have been the great star product of 2021", explains Matos.

The number of mortgages constituted on homes increased by 4.5% last April compared to the same month of 2021, to add 33,423 loans, the highest figure in a month of April since 2010, when more than 50,000 mortgages were signed.

According to data released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), with the advance of April, the home mortgage firm has chained 14 months of consecutive year-on-year increases.

However, the rebound in April, which moderates that registered in March by more than 13 points, is the lowest year-on-year growth in home mortgages since February 2021.