2024-04-17 10:21:59
“Currently, those who are trying to get loans have already noticed changes in the banks’ activities, customers are also telling us about them. With EURIBOR still not falling, banks began to lower their interest rates. If a year or two ago the lowest limit was considered to be 2 percent, today the average in banks has reached 1.6, and in some banks even 1.42 percent”, E. Gudauskienė is quoted in the report.
According to her, the currently offered lower interest rate is fixed for the entire period of the credit agreement.
“This means that people who have now decided to sign a housing loan agreement can take advantage of a short period of time when they will secure lower bank interest rates for a long time and especially save when the EURIBOR starts to decrease,” says E. Gudauskienė.
According to the representative of Omberg group, some banks go even further in order to attract customers in the slowed down market.
“For example, they announce promotions for buyers of high, A+ and A++ energy class homes in our projects and those of our other partners. Additional discounts apply to such customers in the first year of loan payment,” says E. Gudauskienė.
In the assessment of the real estate expert, this behavior of banks is normal and predictable. In order to ensure the flow of new customers in a market where the opportunities to purchase housing are artificially difficult, they must at least partially compensate for the ECB’s decisions by improving the conditions they offer.
“Naturally, despite all the challenges, people need homes. Our projects that are best suited for families are the most actively sold. As new families are created, children are born and grow, people have to move to more spacious houses and cannot wait, even if the conditions for obtaining a loan are still difficult. Therefore, these bank offers become a salvation, and in the long run they will probably help to save money as well,” says E. Gudauskienė.
With ECB policymakers closely monitoring steadily declining inflation, the cost of loans was unchanged last week and remains at 4.5 percent. Many economists expected such a decision – the fifth in a row since last October. The ECB’s reference deposit rate, which has currently reached a record level of four percent, was also unchanged.
The interest rate of the main refinancing operations and the interest rates using marginal borrowing and deposit options will not change and are 4.5, 4.75 and 4 percent, respectively.
2024-04-17 10:21:59