Mortgage rates below 4% for the first time in 16 months
The implicit interest rate on mortgages has been falling for 12 months in a row and is once again below the 4% threshold, for the first time since July 2023.
The implicit rate in home loan contracts fell in for the 12th month in a row and is once again below the 4% threshold, for the first time since July 2023.
The rate on home loans fell to 3.978% at the start of the year, the lowest since July 2023, according to data released this Wednesday by INE, the Portuguese statistics office.
Since reaching an almost 15-year high of over 4.6 per cent in January last year, house prices have been falling steadily, reflecting the easing of the Euribor and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary policy in general. In this period they have already fallen by almost 0.7 percentage points, which means that families are paying less for their mortgages.
For contracts signed in the last three months, the implicit rate stood at 3.113% in January, 0.236 percentage points less than in December and 1.267 percentage points less than in January last year.
According to INE, the average instalment stood at 401 euros at the start of the year, down two euros on the previous month and three on a year ago. Of these 401 euros, 225 euros corresponded to interest paid and 176 euros to capital amortised. The outstanding capital rose to 68,992 euros on average.
