Los mortgage credits They have been getting more expensive since mid-2021 and now they reach an annual rate of 10% on average, according to data from the Superintendence of Banking, Insurance and AFP (SBS).
This 10% implies that the mortgages they would have reached their highest interest rate in 13 years, since they had not registered a similar level since October 2009.
13 years ago, loans for the purchase of real estate had begun to decline, reaching a minimum of 5.8% at the beginning of 2021, but why is this?
Specialists point out that the rates of mortgage credits they increased because the central banks of Peru and the United States began to raise reference rates to mitigate the impact of inflation. Only in Peru, the BCR raised the rate from 0.25% in August 2021 to 7.75% in January 2023.
With the current level of inflation, it is expected that the reference rates will only begin to fall in 2024, which will imply that loans remain high this year and fall next year.
Faced with this situation, the finance professor at the UPC, Jorge Luis Ojeda, pointed out that these high rates should not scare families who are looking to buy their first living place.
“Although the rates are high now, that will not last forever. When the rate drops, the client will have the possibility of seeking the purchase of his credit with another financial entity that charges less; or he will be able to renegotiate his rate to continue with his same bank,” he told the newspaper Gestión.
The experts also point out that the most favorable interest rates for a loan are held by the banks, since the savings banks and finance companies offer higher rates.
According to SBS data, municipal savings banks have a rate of 13.7% for mortgage creditswhile the rural savings banks an average of 14.9% and the financial ones have an interest of 11%.
Regarding banks, the interest rate average is 10%, but in some cases it reaches 9%. For example, at Banco BNG it is 9%, at Banco de Comercio 9.3%, at Scotiabank 9.5%, at Interbank 9.7%, at BCP 9.7%, at BBVA 9.8%, at Banco Pichincha 10.4% and the BIF of 10.9%.