The 12-month Euribor, the reference for variable-rate mortgages, shot up this Tuesday, February 28 to 3.725% in the European interbank market, its highest level since December 4, 2008. After this data, the February’s monthly average, which will act as a guide for the cost of mortgages, closes at 3.53%, as reported by ‘La Información’ yesterday.
This is the fourteenth consecutive monthly increase in the 12-month Euribor, which places it at its highest level since November 2008. This figure will be ratified by the Bank of Spain this week for subsequent publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE). ) with legal effects.
The 12-month interbank rate enters March above 3.7% after a month of February in which it has risen in 16 of the 20 business sessions. The price of the Euribor is thus ahead of expectations of future increases in interest rates. The ECB will guarantee that it will raise the official rate from 3% to 3.5% on March 16, as promised at the last meeting in December 2022 when it indicated two consecutive increases of 50 basis points for the start of 2023.
The central bank also then expressed its willingness to reflect on its next steps, a position that markets interpreted as a possible pause in the rate cycle. However, on February 2, Christine Lagarde opened the door to a new upward movement in May and different ECB governors have spoken out in public in favor of new rate increases to control inflation in Europe.
Precisely, the euro zone has witnessed this Tuesday the publication of the advance of the CPI report for February, which in Spain has broken the downward trend and has rebounded from 5.9% to 6.1%, in the general index, and from 7.5% to 7.7% in the base, which excludes more volatile elements such as energy prices or fresh food. The experts justify this behavior by the latent pressures that have been accumulating as a result of the strength of the demand or the rise in pensions.
