The Euribor rises for the first time since January, but mortgage rates continue to fall.

BarcelonaThe one-year Euribor, the main benchmark for variable-rate mortgages, registered its first increase since January in August, closing at an average of 2.114%, compared to 2.079% in July. However, variable-rate loans for home purchases will continue to decline, as this benchmark is still below what it was a year ago (3.166%). With this trend, with this Friday's index at 2.119%, it is expected that the high rate of mortgage granting, which reached its highest level in fifteen years, will continue.

After registering declines in February, March, April, May, and July—in June it repeated the same average level as the previous month—the one-year Euribor is rising again, but mortgages under review will continue to fall. And this effect will be felt both in those revised semiannually (2.407%) and in those revised annually. An example makes its impact clearer. For an average mortgage of €168,363 over 25 years (the average collected by the National Statistics Institute for June), a monthly payment of €904.19 will be reduced to €808.42, representing a monthly saving of €95.77 and an annual saving of €1,149.

Fixed-rate mortgages continued to grow in June, accounting for 72% of all new mortgages, while variable-rate mortgages fell to 28%. The average interest rate for fixed-rate mortgages in June was 2.98%, and the initial average for variable-rate mortgages was 3%.

Miquel Riera, mortgage specialist at Helpmycash, states that "the Euribor tends to stagnate when factors point to a stabilization of European Central Bank (ECB) interest rates, especially if previous forecasts were overly optimistic and need to be adjusted to the new reality." And this, in his opinion, is what has happened in recent months, especially in August.

According to Ricard Garriga, CEO of Trioteca, the interest rate on new home mortgages continues to moderate and closed at 2.99% in June, marking five consecutive months below 3%. And as long as demand for mortgages increases, which is what's happening, "apartment prices will also rise."

At the beginning of the year, it was assumed that the ECB would implement several interest rate cuts. And this occurred between January and June, but in July the trend stopped, and at the same time, there are elements that could increase inflation, such as US tariffs.

Therefore, the forecast now is that the ECB will lower the price of money at most once more during the remainder of the year. That's why the Euribor, the interest rate at which banks lend money to each other, has stagnated, according to Trioteca. Based on this thesis, it is expected that the Euribor will not move too much and will end the year in a range between 1.96% and 2%.