The reference index most used in Europe to calculate the installments of variable rate mortgages, the one-year Euribor, breaks its upward trend by falling its average value by more than a tenth in November, to 4.022%, thus moving away from the predictions that placed it at around 4.5%. Specifically, it has fallen 0.138 points since October, the steepest drop since July 2012.
Mortgaged companies can face the final stretch of the year with some relief, since the average figure for the index is the lowest recorded since June (4.007%), even its daily value has reached below 4% on three occasions this month. Despite this, Simone Colombelli, director of Mortgages at iAhorro, is cautious about making overly optimistic predictions. “This trend is striking, but we should not get carried away,” he warns.
Left behind, however, are the strong increases experienced until August to give way to variations of one tenth month to month, up or down. This has occurred, in part, due to the stabilization of official interest rates, since in its last meeting the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to keep them at 4.5%.
Despite the slight month-on-month decrease in the Euribor, those who undergo a review of the interest rate applied to their variable loan will see the fee continue to become more expensive. The reason is that in November 2022 the index was 1,194 points lower, at 2.828%. Specifically, those who took out a variable mortgage of 150,000 euros in 2021, when the Euribor was negative, for 30 years and with a differential of 0.99%, paid an initial payment of 448.98 euros per month. An amount that in October 2022 increased to 691.35 euros and will now increase to 790.21 euros.
If the incipient downward trend in the Euribor continues and continues to fall to around 3.8% in December, “it will mean the first relief in two years for mortgage holders who are due for a semi-annual review”, comments from the Association of Financial Users ( To its end). The reason is that the index would remain below the 4.007% it marked in June, a decrease that would be slightly noticeable in the share of variable rate mortgages.
The association recalls that “the unusual” rise that the Euribor has experienced since the spring of 2022, a period in which it has risen more than four points, has stressed the mortgage market. Proof of this is the strong decline that has occurred in home sales in recent months.
