It is not the January slope, it is the Euribor staggering during the first week of 2024. After its 12-month rate fell from 4.022% in November to 3.679% in December, its daily rate in January does not maintain the upward trend. drops and stagnates above 3.5%.
It is not bad news: it was already being said that there would be months of hesitation while we waited for the next action from the European Central Bank (ECB), which hesitates about maintaining interest rates or raising them again one last time. But the first mortgage holders at a variable rate, regardless, will begin to see reductions in their payments.
The ECB’s decisions are conditioned by inflation in the eurozone.
The president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, recalled that, “although inflation has fallen in recent months, it is likely to temporarily rebound again in the short term.” There should therefore be no more increases, as long as the trend remains the same, but also no decreases, at least in the next month and “for as long as necessary.”
The banks, however, faced with this horizon of hope, begin a fight to adjust their prices and attract clients, and hence the Euribor has fallen. We would expect this index to remain close to 3.5% long enough until a new drop in the official “price” of the euro is confirmed.
In a context of frozen demand, banks adjust their interest rates to appear more attractive to their users. On the one hand, they invite savers to deposit money in their entities in exchange for a remuneration, in many cases, monthly. On the other hand, they adjust their interest rates to offer more competitive fixed and mixed mortgages.
In January 2024, some holders of variable mortgages will begin to see decreases in their payments. Specifically, they will be those who have agreed with the bank to review the reviews every six months; And the Euribor from half a year ago was higher than that of December 2023.
However, people who review their mortgage annually will still see a final increase in their payments, gentler than the previous ones, if their next review of the conditions is held this January.
