The signing of mortgages grows by 11% amidst the Euribor's escalation

BarcelonaIn June, 11% more mortgages were signed in Catalonia than in the same period last year, even though home sales rose a meager 1%. According to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Wednesday, it was the June with the most loan formalizations since 2010. Purchases with financing continue to gain prominence in the highly strained housing market, being used in 85% of transactions.

Catalonia registered the contracting of 8,045 mortgages and has now had three months of increases – in March, 8,663 were signed – despite the rise in Euribor. Last week, this index, to which most variable mortgages in Spain are referenced, surpassed the 3% barrier for the first time in daily rate, something that had not happened since September 2024.

Those who signed 38.3% of mortgages originated in June with a variable interest rate will be particularly attentive to the evolution of Euribor. According to the INE, the average variable interest rate for mortgages signed in the sixth month of the year stands at 3.07%, the highest level since early 2025.

In contrast, 61.7% of loans taken out in June were linked to a fixed rate, which averaged 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 outbreak of the pandemic. In the years of the economic crisis of 2008 and the immediately following ones, when rates hit rock bottom, fixed-rate mortgage signings were practically negligible, but from 2016 onwards, they soared: 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 purchases

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 it is penalized and, on the other hand, the one who is buying is the one 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 does not grow more because it does not give more of itself, there is not enough supply to respond to all the demand".