Mortgage signings grow 12.5% amid Euribor surge

BarcelonaIn June, 12.5% more mortgages on housing were signed in Catalonia than in the same period last year, although housing sales rose a mere 1%. According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Wednesday, it was the June with the most loan formalizations since 2010. The increase in all mortgages (including those for rural properties and land) is 14%.

In the housing sector, Catalonia registered the contracting of 8,045 mortgages, marking three consecutive months of increase – in March, 8,663 were signed – despite the escalation of the Euribor. Last week this index, to which most variable mortgages in Spain are referenced, surpassed the 3% barrier for the first time on a daily rate, which had not happened since September 2024. Thus, purchasing with financing continues to gain prominence in the highly strained housing market, and it is used in 85% of operations.

Signatories of 38.3% of mortgages taken out in June with a variable interest rate will be especially attentive to the evolution of Euribor. According to INE, the average variable interest rate for mortgages signed in the sixth month of the year stands at 3.07%, the highest level since the beginning of 2025.

In contrast, 61.7% of loans taken out in June were linked to a fixed rate, which on average was set at 2.89%, 0.05% less than the previous month, and 0.08% less than a year ago.

Since January 2021, fixed-rate mortgages have been the majority. This was not the case until the pandemic broke out. In the years of the 2008 economic crisis and the immediately following years, when rates hit rock bottom, the signing of fixed-rate mortgages was practically negligible, but from 2016 onwards it skyrocketed: they went from accounting for 10.2% of loans signed in January of that year, to 40.2% a year and a half later.

Less investor buying

The manager of the Chamber of Urban Property of Barcelona, Òscar Gorgues, believes that the evolution of mortgages "clearly reflects" the dynamics of the housing market in Catalonia: "The investor is less active because in Catalonia they are penalized and, on the other hand, those who are buying are those looking for a habitual residence".

Taking stock of the first half of 2026, he believes that the housing market "continues to have a high level" and insists that "it is not growing more because it cannot give more of itself, there is not enough supply to respond to all the demand".