Banks were hard at work in April, renegotiating mortgages from customers looking to improve their terms in view of fee hikes caused by rising interest rates. According to the data published yesterday by the Bank of Spain, during the month mortgages were renegotiated for 2,503 million euros, five times more than the 449 million in March and 31% more than in the whole of 2022, in which the figure was 1,910 million.
Experts explain that this type of operation is typical of times when interest rates rise or fall sharply. However, a volume like the one detected in April is rare.
“Yes, we have noticed in the office that there are many cases of this kind. Many people ask us for it and it is constant”, says Juan Ignacio Navas, founding partner of the Navas law firm
In most cases, the renegotiations respond to commercial operations between banks and customers, apart from the aid of the code of good practices signed by the Spanish Government and the banks. Of course, the code contributes to this trend because it establishes free of charge during 2023 when it goes from a variable to a fixed rate.
From the Spanish Mortgage Association (AHE), its analyst Leyre López points out that renegotiations must not respond to a customer’s difficult situation. They are different from refinancing, which is activated in the exceptional aid included in the code of good practices.
“Renegotiations are usually operations for renewal or subrogation to a new entity because the client has chosen to improve their conditions and convert the loan they have to a fixed rate,” he explains. These changes, he points out, occur “without incurring an accounting situation of arrears”.
The AEB banking association points out that customers have different options when it comes to reviewing the conditions of their loans. “The banks are providing solutions through the code of good practices and also through bilateral solutions”, they point out.
The INE puts the decline in the purchase and sale of homes at 6% in March, while the Bank of Spain has warned of a certain cooling.
According to the latest quarterly report from the College of Registrars, 32.7% of the mortgages subscribed during the first quarter of the year were at variable rates, and 63.3% at fixed rates.
The price of housing rose by 1.29% between January and March compared to the previous quarter.
