Spanish lending news for February

Loan news for Spain

Data out today confirms the housing market is moving forward but also shows the level of credit in the market place overall is dropping.

Loan capital granted for homes was up 37.1% from February of last year and total credit for urban property was down 0.6% in the month, and total lending down 17.2%. It is clear that lending to business and commerce remains slugish in Spain. Given the Spanish Banks desire to lend it is unlikely this is because of the lenders but more likely to be lack of demand.

Positive data for home loans

On the positive side for dwellings lending was up not only year on year but for the first time in 5 years also showed an increase in Fenruary over Januarys figures. Traditionally over the last 5 years less money is lent in February than January but this year this was up by 1.8%.   

Year on year Capital lent increased by 37.1% for home loans and numbers of loans increased by 29.2%.

Month on month capital was up 5.4% and the average loan size increased by 3.5%.

Mortgage product types and rates

Interest rate averages continued to drop hitting 3.5% in February. This decrease is due to a drop in Euribor and margins being charged.

Variable rates continue to be the favoured product for lenders and mortgagees with over 90% completing on this basis.

Regional ups and downs 

Andalucia as a region was up 42.9% for home loans based on last year indicating a high level of buying activity. The Canary Islands showed a massive decrease of 60.8% as to whether this is just a blip will unfold as the months progress.

Whilst for home loans most of the news is good the Banks still suffered another month of net outflows as 21,298 new mortgages were added to their books and 26,649 mortgages were cancelled.

Readty the full article : Lending news in Spain is a mixed bag for February