The sale of homes continues to increase in Spain, as shown by the latest statistics published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The number of mortgages signed on homes in Spain increased by 24.1% in November compared to the same month in 2020 and stood at 36,220 operations. This is the highest figure recorded in a month of November since 2010, when more than 43,000 mortgages were contracted.
For experts in the Spanish real estate sector, these data show the good health of the Spanish real estate sector and the mortgage market, which - pending the figures for December - could close the year 2021 with some 400,000 signed operations. If so, 2021 would be the best year for the sector in the last decade, despite the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The year-on-year increase registered in November is slightly lower than that registered in the previous month (27.9%). However, the positive trend and vigorous growth is maintained: the contracting of home mortgages has now totaled nine months in a row with positive annual rates and above 30,000 transactions per month.
According to the INE, three out of four home buyers financed their purchase with a mortgage. The average amount of mortgages in Spain stood at 138,189 euros in November, 1.5% more than a year earlier. The capital lent by banks and financial entities for this purpose grew by 26% and exceeded 5 billion.
Fixed interest rate
In monthly terms, (November 2021 compared to October), mortgages on homes decreased by 0.1%.
In November 2021, two out of three home mortgages (67.5%) were signed subject to a fixed interest rate. The other 32.5% of home mortgages were signed at a variable rate.
The average interest rate on housing loans was 2.53%, which is 3.02 percentage points higher than the average Euribor for that month, which stood at -0.49%. The average interest rate at the beginning is 2.17% for home mortgages at a variable rate and 2.74% for those at a fixed rate.
The average payment term for home mortgages was 25 years.
