Spain's home mortgages fall 3.5% as loan costs rise
Spain's new home mortgages fall 3.5% in July to 43,372, even as the average loan grows larger. Spain's National Statistics Institute released the figures on Monday, 28 September; the fall is against July a year earlier. Property websites Idealista, Fotocasa and pisos.com say lending remains high, but see signs that the market is slowing.
Higher prices, dearer borrowing
Idealista links the drop to high house prices, which it says have reduced sales, and rising interest rates that are beginning to push up mortgage costs. That affects people seeking a loan as well as borrowers with variable-rate mortgages or mixed deals whose fixed rate lasts only a short time. Idealista advises those affected by changes in the Euríbor rate to check what terms are available.
Fewer mortgages, larger loans
The average mortgage reached 180,785 euros in July, up 10.7% on a year earlier, according to pisos.com. Its research director, Ferran Font, says the average interest rate is back above 3%, adding to the cost of buying a home.
Fotocasa cautions that July's fall does not tell the whole story. Spain recorded 303,999 home mortgages in the first seven months of the year, 5.1% more than in the same period of 2025. But its research director, María Matos, says many of those loans followed purchases begun months earlier. Fotocasa expects activity to slow in the coming months as buyers grow more cautious and lenders more selective.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com