Once again, banking evaluation of houses reaches a new peak

In July, the banking evaluation of houses means the price per square meter is now 1,117 euros, the highest amount since June of 2011. It is a five euros increase in comparison to the previous month.

This year, there have been consecutive records in the banking evaluation of houses. The reference until now was June 2011, when each square meter was assessed in 1,116 euros. But now, July 2017 surpasses this threshold with a higher amount: 1,117 euros. In the previous month, banking evaluation of houses had also reached a new record of almost six years, when the price per square meter was, on average, 1,112 euros.

Comparing to June, the banking evaluation increase was of 0.4%, especially on apartments, which grew 0.8% to 1,167 euros per square meters, contrary to the 0.2% increase in dwellings. The center region and the Lisbon metropolitan area registered the largest increase in July: 1% and 0.9%, respectively.

Therefore, the evaluation of houses increased 4.6% in comparison to July of last year. The North and the Algarve were the main drivers of this increase, having grown 5.6% and 5.5% in this period, respectively.

The Azores autonomous region is the only one who decreased in comparison to June (a 0.8% decrease), and it is the region which registered the smallest growth percentage in a year — only 1%.

In the first half of 2017, banks granted around four billion euros in new housing credit, an homologous growth of 42%, in a time when spreads are diving, but interests are also very low because of the monetary policy followed by the European Central Bank.

In August, however, housing credit rates increased for the first time in three years, from 1.007% in June to 1.009% in July, — about a one euro difference in the average concession.