Financial institutions continue to transmit a more restrictive monetary policy by the European Central Bank (ECB) to loans for home purchases. According to the Spanish Mortgage Association (AHE), the average interest rate at which banks granted mortgages in Spain rose further in August to stand at 4.237%. This is the highest level since February 2009 and practically equaled the interest rates of the eurozone, which stood at 4.25% in the eighth month of the year.
Thus, according to the data collected by the AHE, in August the average mortgage rate increased again with respect to July until it reached 4.237%, which represents a difference of 0.051 basis points with respect to July of this same year. when it closed at 4.186%. After the new increase registered in August, the average rate has been increasing for 18 months.
Precisely, a year ago, the average rate of new operations to purchase a home established by banks stood at 2.198%, which implies an increase of almost 93% in just twelve months and coincides with the increases in rates interest rates executed by the body chaired by Christine Lagarde, which has taken the official price of money from 0% to 4.5% in the last year and a half.
Likewise, this increase in August contrasts with the evolution of the Euribor, the index to which most variable rate mortgages refer) which registered the first decrease in August for the first time in a year and a half, closing at 4.073%, which represents a drop compared to the 4.149% registered in July. Even so, national entities continued to support access to mortgage credit.
This increase in the average mortgage rate in Spain means that national loans to buy a home continue to be above the average rate applied in the Eurozone, since according to the AHE the average interest rate is 4.140%, which represents 0.070 basis points. below, although from July to August it also experienced increases, going from 4,070% to 4,140%.
