Home loan: Interest rates decreased for the first time since 2022.

Access to the best interest rates on home loans? Talk to the credit intermediaries at Poupança no Minuto! Or first understand where interest rates stand, in this article. 

Mortgage interest rates fall to 4.641% in February

The interest rates for housing fell for the first time since March 2022 in February, with the average installment also decreasing.

The average installment has now seen the first reduction since February 2021, settling at 403 euros.

The data was released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), shared by Notícias ao Minuto, indicating an implicit interest rate of 4.641% in February.

"The implicit interest rate in the set of mortgage contracts decreased for the first time since March 2022, to 4.641% in February 2024, representing a drop of 1.6 basis points (b.p.) compared to January 2024 (4.657%)," the news states.

In the last three months, the interest rate on contracts signed has decreased for the 4th consecutive month, from 4.315% in January to 4.197% in February.

The average installment, standing at 403 euros in February, was 1 euro less than in January and 81 euros more than in February 2023. This corresponds to a monthly decrease of 0.2% (+1.0% in the previous month).

The interest portion represented 62% of the average installment last month, compared to 41% in February 2023.  

In addition, the average monthly installment in the last three months decreased by 11 euros compared to the previous month, to 628 euros in February 2024. This corresponds to an increase of 10.4% compared to the previous year.

Finally, the average outstanding capital of housing loans settled at 65,158 euros, representing an increase of 368 euros.

Although interest rates are starting to decrease and the average installment as well, it does not mean that you will already feel the effect on your monthly home installment. Depending on the case and the term associated with Euribor, the amount you pay per month may continue to remain the same or even slightly increase.

If this is your case, know that there are currently promotional campaigns from banks with mixed interest rate schemes (accessing a fixed rate initially, then returning to a variable rate), with values lower than current Euribor rates.

Want to access one of these campaigns? You can do it by renegotiating your credit or transferring it to another bank. The credit intermediaries from Poupança no Minuto can guide you through this process, at no cost, so you can access various proposals from different banks and choose the ideal one for you.