12-month Euribor, the base rate used to calculate interest payments on most mortgages in Spain, came in at -0.261 as a monthly average in December compared to -0.129 the same a year before, meaning it was more than twice as low over 12 months.
As a result, borrowers in Spain with annually resetting Spanish mortgages based on Euribor would have seen their repayments fall by around €7 per month for a typical €120,000 loan with a 20 year term.
Euribor slipped into negative territory back in February 2016 as a result of the ECB’s policy of quantitative easing to keep the Eurozone economy afloat. Rates appear to have turned a corner and started to creep up towards positive territory, but it could take years to get there. The cost of borrowing to finance a home purchase in Spain will remain low for the foreseeable future.
Spanish mortgage lending volumes
The number of new residential mortgages signed was up 8.1% in October to 24,296 new loans, according to figures from Spain’s Association of Notaries. That’s the third consecutive month of increase.
The average new mortgage loan value for buying a home was €132,489 in October
