Mortgage Interest Rates Return to Highs of August 2016

21 January 2019

After having retreated in November, mortgage lending interest rates accelerated again during the last month of 2018, reaching 1.053%, the highest figure since August 2016 (1.059%).

“The interest rate implicit in all housing loan contracts increased by 0.4 basis points (bps) in December compared to November, reaching 1.053%,” the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported. The INE added that the average annual interest rate for all outstanding housing loans stood at 1.035%, 1.5 bps higher than in 2017.

For contracts signed in the last three months, “the interest rate fell to 1.424%, down 2.8 bps from the previous month,” the INE concluded.

Meanwhile, the average mortgage payment due increased by one euro in November to 244 euros, while the amount of the average outstanding loan increased by 24 euros to 52,376 euros.

On an annual basis (from 2017 t0 2018), “the average outstanding loan amount increased by 425 euros to 51,997 euros, and the average annual instalment due increased by three euros to 241 euros,” the note released by INE stated.

Original Story: Idealista

Photo: Gtres

Translation: Richard Turner