The Euribor rises in May for the third consecutive month above 2.8%

BarcelonaBad times are coming for holders of variable-rate mortgages. The daily 12-month Euribor, the main reference for this type of loan for home purchases, has closed the month with an average above 2.8% (2.804%) and is heading towards 3%, according to analysts. Thus, the monthly payment for an average mortgage of 174,132 euros with Euribor plus one point, which was 833.11 euros, will rise to 900.39 euros, an increase of 67.28 euros more or 807.36 euros more per year.

This trend, which represents the third consecutive monthly increase, after those in February and March, is occurring shortly before the next meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) on June 11. "It is most likely that an interest rate hike will be announced that day," states Miquel Riera, mortgage analyst at financial buyer HelpMyCash.

This upward trend is taking this indicator to levels not seen since September 2024. Ricardo Gulias, CEO of the intermediary RN Tu Solución Hipotecaria, predicts that if the ECB raises the cost of money in June, "it would not be unreasonable to see the Euribor approach 3% and even briefly exceed it during the summer." An indicator that this could happen is that the Euribor always anticipates the ECB's possible moves on interest rates.

For many months now, variable-rate mortgages, which now account for about a third of new production, have been losing ground in favor of fixed-rate or mixed mortgages, which combine an initial stable period with a subsequent variable one.

However, price evolution remains less accelerated despite the war in Iran, and the consumer price index (CPI) grew in the State as a whole by a slight 0.1% between April and May, three tenths below the rate recorded between April and March. In annual terms, the CPI in Spain stood 3.2% above the levels of a year ago, the same variation as that recorded last month.

In any case, the reference for the ECB to maintain the objective of 2% inflation is the euro area, and in April – the latest data available – it rose from 2.6% the previous month to 3%, and in the European Union, from 2.8% to 3.2%.