2023-10-06 04:50:10
Half of the homes are sold without the need for bank financing. Despite the decrease in sales, prices are holding up and buyers are imposing themselves in the face of the increasing restrictions of financial entities to grant mortgages.
In the month of August, the sale and purchase of homes fell 17.3% compared to the same month last year, but the granting of mortgage loans for the purchase of a home fell much more, which sank 26.8%, according to the statistics from the General Council of Notaries published today. In August, 17,267 mortgage loans for home purchases were formalized with an average amount of 141,737 euros, which represents a decrease of 1.3% year-on-year.
The percentage of home purchases financed by a mortgage loan stood at 48.9%, less than half of purchases, compared to 55.3% of purchases financed by mortgages in August last year. The percentage that the loan represents with respect to the total price has also fallen: this August it was on average 71.5% and a year before it was 72.9%.
The fact that fewer and fewer homes are being purchased without requesting a mortgage has a lot to do with the difficulties in obtaining credit and how expensive it has become, following the interest rate increases approved uninterruptedly by the European Central Bank recently. of one year.
At the beginning of 2022 the official price of money was at 0% and now it is at 4.25%. Since January 2022, mortgages have become more expensive every month (those with a variable rate are reviewed once a year) and for an average mortgage the increase is around 300 euros per month. In addition, banks take a close look at who they lend the money to to prevent an increase in delinquencies. Because, although the general default rate has remained at 3.5% in July, mortgage defaults are growing (delinquency rate of 2.49% in June, according to the latest data from the Bank of Spain). So taking out a mortgage is more expensive and difficult and homes are more expensive. For this reason, those who buy now are in many cases investors, funds and wealthy people – quite a few foreigners – who see the real estate sector as a safer and more profitable form of investment. And they buy in cash.
Loans
Mortgage loans for home acquisition did not register increases in any autonomy. However, they performed better than the national average in Aragon (-15.5%), Castilla-La Mancha (-15.7%), the Balearic Islands (-16.9%), Asturias (-18.2%) , Galicia (-21.5%), Extremadura (-23.3%) and Castilla y León (-26.4%). The falls in the remaining 12 autonomies exceeded the national average and stood out in Navarra (-38.2%), La Rioja (-38.0%), Murcia (-34.9%) and the Basque Country (-31. 6%). On the other hand, Cantabria (-29.9%), Canary Islands (-29.2%), Andalusia (-28.5%), Madrid (-27.4%), Valencian Community (-27.0%), Catalonia (-27.0%), Castilla y León (-26.4%), Extremadura (-23.3%) and Galicia (-21.5%) showed less pronounced falls.
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