Contrary to most forecasts, the Euribor will close February with the first increase after three consecutive months of declines. Specifically, it will do so around 3.667%, above the record of the previous month, when it stood at 3.609%. Although the index broke its upward trend in November after reaching all-time highs since 2008 and from then on began to moderate, mortgage holders who are now due for their annual review will see their payments become more expensive.
The main concern of many of them is how the indicator will evolve in the coming months. Will it continue to decline or, on the contrary, will it score new promotions? The main forecasts suggest that the index has entered a phase of moderation and that it will most likely stay away from the 4% threshold that it surpassed between June and November of last year. The upcoming monetary policy decisions of the European Central Bank (ECB), whether there will be new rate cuts or increases, may cause a new change in trend in the indicator.
“What we do not expect is for it to return above the 4% barrier or to suddenly drop to levels closer to 3%; this would not be logical unless an unexpected macroeconomic change occurs,” argues the mortgage advisor. Simone Colombelli, director of Mortgages at iAhorro. Ricard Garriga, CEO of Trioteca, expresses himself in a similar sense, ruling out “exponential” rises and falls in the reference index for variable mortgages.
However, we must not lose sight of the fact that in the course of two years the index has risen more than four points, which has caused an abrupt increase in mortgage payments at a time also marked by high inflation rates. A situation that has triggered the monthly expense that thousands of households in Spain have to face.
As the Euribor in February (3.667%, in the absence of data to close the month) is higher than that of a year ago (3.534%), mortgages will become slightly more expensive. For example, whoever took out a mortgage of 150,000 euros a year ago with a repayment period of 30 years and a differential of 0.99% plus Euribor, will see how their payment will go from the 762 euros they paid until now to the 774 euros they paid. will pay from the review, which represents an increase of 11.62 euros per month or, in other words, 139.45 euros per year.
If the amount of the mortgage was 300,000 euros at the beginning of its life, the loan holder would have to pay 23 euros more per month or 279 euros per year, when going from an installment of 1,524.34 euros to another of 1,547.58 euros .
Those who will begin to benefit from the latest decreases in the Euribor are the holders of mortgages with a semiannual review, since the index stood at 4.073 last August. A reduction that can mean savings per month, respectively, of between 40 and 80 euros.