Mortgage lending resists rate hike, grows 4% in September | Economy

The mortgage market holds. The number of mortgages issued on homes in September increased by 4% compared to the same period in 2021, to 44,119, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). With this increase, the Mortgage Company chains 19 months to the top. According to mortgage statistics published this Wednesday, the average amount of these was 143,222 euros, 0.5% more. All in all, despite being the best September since 2010, we are starting to see signs of a slowdown: in August the annual change was 10.5%.

Although the mortgage institution is resisting the rise in interest rates —and, with it, the increase in the Euribor, the index to which the vast majority of mortgages in Spain refer—, this is being noticed in the behavior of borrowers. According to the INE, up to 11,140 mortgages changed their terms in September. Of these, 32.5% are due to changes in interest rates. The percentage of fixed-rate mortgages, which was residual in recent years, went from 16.8% to almost half of the total (49.9%).

For mortgages granted on all properties in September, the average initial rate was 2.59% and the average duration was 23 years. 33.3% is floating rate and 66.7% is fixed rate. In those set up on homes, the average interest rate was slightly lower (2.47%), but the average duration rose to 24 years. 31.8% of home loans in the ninth month of the year were disbursed at variable rates and 68.2% at fixed rates. The average interest rate at the beginning was 1.96% for variable rate home loans and 2.70% for fixed rate ones. According to the latest data available, the average mortgage increased by 200 euros in October.

By community, Madrid (8,836), Andalusia (7,769) and Catalonia (7,683) are the regions in which the highest number of mortgages were taken out in the ninth month of the year. They are also where most of the capital is lent for the establishment of this type of real estate collateral. Proportionally, where the mortgage lending business increased the most was in Galicia (+30.3%), Cantabria (+19.6%) and Aragon (+14.5%). Those that have most reduced the constitution of these loans were Castilla y León (–10.3%), Andalusia (–10.2%) and Comunidad Foral de Navarra (–9.8%).