Portuguese banks grant more than 20 million euros per day in house loans

  • ECO News
  • 8 August 2017

Around four billion euros were granted by Portuguese banks to new housing credit in the first half of 2017. This is a new maximum of seven years.

House loans continue increasing in Portugal. The Bank of Portugal discloses that in the first six months of 2017, banks granted 3.8 billion euros in loans to purchase a house. This number represents a 42% increase in comparison to the same period of 2016. On average, banks granted more than 20 million euros per day for that purpose.

According to data from the Bank of Portugal, the month of June marks a new maximum when it comes to the granting of housing credit. In that month alone, banks operating in Portugal granted a total of 754 million euros in new loans to purchase a house. This is the highest amount since December of 2010, which elevates the total of new loan granting to purchase houses in the first six months of 2017 to 3.821 million euros.

These almost four billion euros correspond to a seven-years maximum, since one needs to go back to the homologous period of 2010 to see a higher amount: 5.166 million euros. In comparison to the same period of last year, the new financing for the purchase of a house had an almost 42% increase. In spite of the growth in the new housing credit, the overall financing balance for that aim, continues decreasing.

The increase in house loans reflects a set of economic expectations, as well as expectations about the financial system: the economy and employment are improving, leading to a larger predisposition from families to take on a financial commitment as large as a home loan. This predisposition is also aided by an improvement in the credit access conditions, such as smaller interest rates for housing credit, which reached an historic minimum.