Mortgages fall 38.2% in Spain
The National Institute for Statistics (INE) has published a report today which shows that the number of mortgages taken out for housing fell by 38.2% in April compared to April 2010 to 31,358. This is the biggest fall since April 2009 when the number of mortgages fell by 41.6%.
These figures point to a general slump in the number of mortgages being taken out for the purpose of buying a house or flat and end a year of consecutive falls despite a slight improvement during the first four months of 2010. The fall in April is much higher than in March when the number of mortgages fell by 20.2%.
The average amount for a mortgage was 106,889 euros in April which is 6.1% less than in April 2010. Capital lent fell by 42% to 3,351 million euros compared to the same month a year ago.
In April 50,089 mortgages were taken out for country and urban estates – houses and flats are included in these figures. This shows a fall of 37.
5% compared to the same month in 2010 and 27.6% compared to the previous month.
Building societies conceded more mortgages than banks accounting for 49.2% of the total followed by banks at 37.5%. Other financial entities accounted for 13.3% of mortgages. Building societies conceded 43.4% of the total amount of capital lent, banks were responsible for 44% and other financial entities 12.6%.
The average interest rate in April was 4.04% which is an increase of 3.1% compared to a year ago and 2.5% compared to the previous month.
With mortgages taken out with building societies the average interest rate charged was 4.04% and the average number of years for a mortgage was 22. The figures are similar for banks with the average interest rate at 4.24% and the average number of years 21.
Nearly all mortgages taken out in April 2011 (94.
2%) had a variable interest rate compared to 5.8% which had a fixed rate. The euribor was the most popular type of interest rate used (84.1%).
During April 2011 22,827 mortgage holders changed the conditions of their mortgages – this is 40.1% less than a year ago. With regards to mortgages for housing just 13,050 changed their conditions which is 44.1% less than in April 2010. The number of mortgage holders which changed banks or building societies was 2,790 which is 34.6% less compared to a year ago. Out of the 22,827 mortgages which were altered in April this year 35.5% involved modifications to their interest rates. Finally in April 2011 40,048 mortgages were cancelled which is 13% less than in April 2010.
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