Number of mortgages granted rises 34% annually

According to the latest figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the number of mortgages granted in May this year saw the figure increase by a massive 34.1% annually, which is the biggest jump for the previous 12 months experienced all year.

During the fifth month of 2016, a total of 26,579 new mortgages were registered. This volume hasn’t been seen since 2012.

In addition, the total amount of money borrowed also increased 33.1% from last year, although the average amount taken out per loan decreased 0.8% to 104,480 euro.

From January to May this year, a total of 121,331 mortgages have been signed. This is also more than last year – 19.7% more.

Just over 80% of mortgages taken out in May were of a variable rate, while 20% were fixed. The average interest rate was fixed at 3.19%, which is 6.1% lower than in May 2015.

Regarding autonomous regions, the greatest number of mortgages were taken out in Andalucia (4,916), followed by Cataluña (4,495) and Madrid (4,366).

At the same time, the regions with the greatest increase in the number of mortgages taken out from last year are the Balearic Islands (66.9%), the Basque Country (51.6%) and Castilla-La Mancha (47.7%).

However, banks are still in the process of cancelling and large number of mortgages, as many as they are granting new ones. This means that there is still a lot of competition between them to capture new clients, and interest rates continue to fall as a result.

A greater number of clients are opting for fixed mortgage rates, showing that they are still wary of the market, although banks are making this option very attractive to them and a much safer choice.

Source: www.idealista.com