According to the European Mortgage Federation (EMF), in the first quarter of 2023, Spain became one of the cheapest countries in Europe to open a mortgage loan, along with Portugal and France. The latter is closest to Spain, in the latter the average interest rate on a mortgage loan is at 2.67%, while in France this indicator is at 2.5%.
Spain has been below the continental average for several quarters. For example, in the third quarter of 2022, the average European level was 3.48%. Spain was 42% lower than this indicator, featuring a rate of 2.02%. Only Denmark, France and Portugal were cheaper. But special attention should be paid to loans at a fixed rate. In the same third quarter, the interest on a five-year fixed-rate mortgage loan in Spain was 2.29%. Only Finland was cheaper with 1.52%. An even lower rate was observed in Spain when comparing ten-year mortgages - 1.79%.
Gregorio Izquierdo, Director General of the Institute of Economic Research (IEA), said in an interview for Servimedia that Spain's financial sector is particularly efficient and competitive in the current economic conditions. In fact, according to him, the mortgage market of the country was one of the first who foresaw changes in the global economy and banking system and adapted to the new realities in time, now providing extremely attractive and competitive financial instruments.
Spanish CaixaBank is at the forefront of trends in the modern financial sector. Even before interest rates began to rise, the bank was able to transfer 70% of its mortgage loans to fixed rates with favorable interest rates. Other banks last year maintained similar indicators in this regard, for example, back in the first quarter of 2022, Bankinter's new mortgage contracts consisted of 80% fixed-rate loans.