Spanish Mortgage Approval Rates hit Seven-Year High

Mortgages are on the up and banks start to lend more.

Spanish Mortgage Approval Rates hit Seven-Year High

Some 26,583 mortgages were approved in Spain during August, making it the highest monthly figure since 2010, not to mention a massive increase of 29.1% compared to the same month last year. 

The continued upward trajectory of Spanish real estate has been made clear by a range of data released over the year. Whether it’s the number of transactions, or prices, or regional growth and overall outlook, the Spanish real estate market is in good health and only growing.

This recent data, which comes from statistics released by the Spanish central statistics unit, is perhaps the most accurate reflection of how things are right now. The numbers tell us that the peak of summer is when the most homes are bought, and the economic data shows that more and more Spaniards feel financially secure enough to begin climbing the property ladder.

The figure is naturally topped up by buyers from Britain, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, and other countries. This is shown by the fact that Andalucía, home of the illustrious Costa del Sol, saw the highest annual increase in August mortgage approvals. 50.2% more mortgages were approved in Andalucía compared to August of last year.

The average mortgage amount is also increasing, albeit not as sharply as mortgage approvals. The average mortgage amount has increased a minor 0.7% to €111,488, which is still encouraging despite being lower than the average increase in property prices. It shows that banks are once again feeling confident enough to lend money.

When taken as year-to-date statistics, the first eight months of 2017 saw over 210,000 mortgages approved, which is an increase of 12.85% over the same period of 2016. When looked at in terms of the past 12 months, the increase becomes 12.1% with 306,000 mortgages approved in Spain between August 2016 and August 2017.

Mortgage Approvals Increase 33% in Spain in Summer

The banks in Spain are slowly relaxing there rules and giving

mortgages again 

Mortgage Approvals Increase 33% in Spain in Summer

The latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that mortgage approvals during July increased 32.9% compared to the same month in 2016. 

The data shows that some 24,863 home mortgages in total were granted across Spain in one single month. The average value of the mortgages also increased 3.8% year-over-year to €119, 613. 

Overall Spanish banks loaned out a total of €2.97 billion in July, an 38% increase on the July of last year. 

Things get interesting when comparing it to the month of June, as mortgage approvals dropped 15.8% in July compared to June. The likely cause for this is that July is the peak of the holiday season, when many potential buyers are focusing on spending time on the beach rather than spending their money on investments. 

Andalucía in the Costa del Sol saw the most home mortgages granted, as 4,577 mortgages were approved in July. This was ahead of Madrid and Catalonia, which saw a respective 4,379 and 4,348 mortgages approved. 

The popularity of Andalucía is kept high thanks to places such as Marbella, which has become one of the most popular choices for second homes in Spain. British, Irish, German, and Scandinavian buyers alike can’t get enough of the area. 

It looks like the uncertainty of an independence “referendum” has done nothing to deter investors in Catalonia. The real estate consultancy firm Sotheby’s International Realty said that they have seen record sales in Catalonia as it appears investors are not nervous at all about the potential secession of the region. 

Idealista collated data for house prices in Barcelona that showed the average property in the city has increased in value by 9.2% across 2017, which is another sign that politics is having little to no effect on investment.

One thing is clear, buying property in Spain continues to be very popular.

Spanish Mortgage Approvals Up 19.2% in June

Spanish Mortgage Approvals Up 19.2% in June

The data continues to be good for the Spanish property market

Official notary data for June in Spain has shown that the rate of mortgage approvals for residential property increased at the highest rate in a decade. 

The statistics show that the 23,223 mortgages granted across Spain in June of this year was 19.2% higher than in June of last year. The figure means that almost half – 45% - of the properties purchased in June were financed through mortgages. 

An overall total of 51,477 homes were registered as bought in Spain in June – an increase of 17.4% over June of last year, and the second-sharpest monthly increase since back in 2007. The only month in the decade since then that topped the sales from June was December 2012, when property transactions were inflated for that month ahead of new rules for income tax to be introduced in January 2013. 

The remarkable sales figures from June are another marker of the strengthening real estate sector of Spain, which has been boosted by sustained demand from domestic and foreign buyers alike, along with the increased generosity and less strict nature of lending criteria from Spanish banks and the increasing prices across almost every region in the country. 

The notary data showed there was a 1.4% price increase in June of this year compared to last year, with the average square metre of property selling at €1,358. The average size of mortgages reflected this increase in house prices, as the average mortgage has increased 6% to €129,704 with data revealing that mortgages accounted for an average of 76% of the total purchase price of houses bought via mortgages. 

The market for new builds is also on the increase, with sales of new properties rising 10.8% in June compared to June of last year.

Spain Mortgage Market Records 14% Growth in 2016

Buying property in Spain has never been so easy or cheap

While it’s hard to accurately gauge the growth of the Spanish property market in 2016 because there are a lot of different metrics involved in measuring it, mortgages are one area where the growth is obvious.

After all, mortgages are always mortgages. The data from the Spanish central statistics institutes shows that 14% more mortgages were approved in 2016 over 2015. There were a total of around 281,328 mortgages issued last year in Spain, with December welcoming the 29^th year-on-year increase across 30 months as 20,747 mortgages were taken out by new homebuyers.

December alone saw a 6.9% increase over December of 2015, and continued the welcome trend of increased confidence in the Spanish property market. It also served as more proof that the boom is supported by foreign and domestic buyers alike.

Referring to the trend as an “upturn” would be a little unfair though. The word “upturn” suggests that it’s just temporary, while the reality is that things have been looking good for 30 months now. That’s hardly a temporary boost.

Something else interesting about the data is that the average loan was around 2.8% higher than it was in 2015, which shows not just an increase in property prices (an increase that ranges depending on who you ask) but also the growing confidence of banks and other lending institutes in the solvency of borrowers. This basically means that more Spaniards are employed in secure, well-paying jobs, leaving them in better positions to buy homes and reassuring banks that the economy is doing well.

In terms of numbers, the average mortgage in December was €112,680, with an average of €109,759 for the entire year.

Mortgage Activity in Spain Increased in November by 32%

The Costa del Sol continues its recovery

Mortgage Activity in Spain Increased in November by 32%

November was an incredible month for the Spanish property market given the 32% growth month-on-month.

As the stats for the end of 2016 start coming in, it’s increasingly clear that the year was a successful one for Spain in a number of ways. The country saw considerable improvement in tourism to the economy as a whole. No industry has seen the level of positivity that the property industry has though.

The central statistics unit of the Spanish government shows that there was a 32% increase in mortgage approvals in November 2016 compared to November 2015. Overall 25.413 mortgages were approved in the month.

This would be encouraging by itself, but when you also consider the greater trends as a whole, it becomes a stronger sign of success. Overall there was a 15% increase in mortgage approvals during the first 11 months of 2016 compared to the same time period in 2015; reaching a total of 260,581.

It’s expected that December will see this total figure increased by over 20,000 for the full year-end total.

If there are that many mortgage approvals in December, it means that there were over 280,000 mortgages approved in 2016 across Spain. While the idea of a “healthy” number has become a little skewed by the boom-and-bust nature of the real estate sector in Spain, there’s still plenty of steady growth, and that’s encouraging.

Here is something to consider; There were over 100,000 mortgages approved per month for much of the last peak for the Spanish property market. That covers 2005 and 2007. This changed a lot after the depression settled in as only 12,000 mortgages were approved in August 2013.

It was impossible to maintain the higher figure, but the smaller figure is just too low. That’s why steady growth somewhere in the middle is just right. At least for now.

Spanish Mortgage Holders Set to Receive Billions From Banks in Repayments

Spanish Mortgage Holders Set to Receive Billions From Banks in Repayments

Greedy Spanish banks have to pay Billions

which is Great news for mortgage holders in Spain

Around 2.5 million mortgage holders in Span could find themselves receiving rebates up to thousands of euros after a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last week that some Spanish banks issued “unfair” mortgage floors clauses that went against European law, and any money raised from these mortgages should be returned.

This ruling will likely affect customers who got their mortgage from the leading Spanish banks such as Banco Popular, Banco Sabadell, Caixbank and BBVA. Analysts have suggested that banks have set aside an estimated €4.5 billion to pay back their clients.

The issue is all about the “floor” clause that was made a part of many Spanish mortgages. It gave variable-rate mortgages a minimum interest by placing a limit in how much mortgage payments could be reduced by alongside the benchmark rates, which was the Euribor rate for many of the banks in Spain.

The Euribor rate has dropped to historical lows since 2008, but when a mortgage holder had a “floor clause” attached to their mortgage it meant that they were still making repayments that were higher than the benchmark rate, meaning that they were unfairly losing out to the fluctuations of the property market.

This ruling is unable to be appealed and came as a bit of a shock to the banks, as the ECJ saying that there would be no time limit for reimbursements. As such banks really could need to pay back over €4.5 billion in rebates.

The decision to backdate the rebates to May 2013 was made by the Spanish Supreme Court to protect the banking sector as it continues to recover from a double-dip recession. However the ECJ clearly felt that banks have not done enough to protect their customers, which is why the ruling was made that floor clauses are illegal and that reimbursements must be paid.

One mortgage holder revealed in an interview with Bloomberg that he would be receiving a €6,000 rebate, which is about the figure the other 2.5 million customers with these illegal floor clauses can expect.

While many homeowners will be receiving a welcome little windfall as they recover from the festive period the same can’t be said for the banks. Some members of the banking sector had hope that the Supreme Court would step up and halt the repayments to protect the industry because of the exceptional circumstances, but the ECJ took the stance that customers should come first.

This ruling is another step in the right direction for transparency and maturity in Spanish banking and property. While it took far too long to get the repayments issued, the ECJ should be applauded for taking the steps they have.

Spanish Mortgage Approvals are up 16.8% in October 2016

Spanish Mortgage Approvals are up 16.8% in October 2016

The recovery is working well in Spain and the next 7 years

look fantastic

October 2016 marked the third consecutive month of Spanish mortgage approvals increasing following increases of 6.4% and 10% in August and September respectively.

The Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) released provisional data last month that showed that the amount of mortgage approvals noted by the Property Registers was 22,581 in October; an increase of 16.8% compared to October 2015.

This marks the third consecutive month with rising mortgage approvals after a 6.4% increase in August and a 10% rise in September. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that the most approvals occurred in the autonomous regions of Andalucía (4,513), Madrid (3,904), and Catalunya (3,561). In terms of where the most money was lent the leaders were Madrid (€593.7 million), Catalunya (€450.3 million) and Andalucía (€423.8 million).

71.4% of the mortgages approved in October were made under variable rates, with 26.8% of them being fixed rate loans.

Spanish Mortgage Activity up 10% in September

Spanish Mortgage Activity up 10% in September

The property market continues its recovery in the

Costa del Sol and Spain

There’s been more good news for the Spanish property market with the publication of the latest official data. It showed that the amount of mortgages approved during September was up 10% over last year.

The data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) shows that 26,667 mortgages were approved in September, which is further proof that the property market in Spain has managed to recover from the damage of the credit crunch.

The data is also a continuation in the positive trend changing the face of the industry across the past 18 months, as well as a confirmation that property prices are still increasing, along with confidence from both consumers and banks.

The data from the INE showed that there was also an increase in average loan capital during September. This was up 2.2% to €113,193, the highest that it’s been for over five years. The news was positive in every one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain. The Canary Islands in particular reported there was a massive gain in approvals with an increase of 45.2% compared to last year.

The story in Andalucia, Catalunya and Madrid was pretty similar. These property markets are being boosted by an increase of both domestic and foreign buyers in Spain.

When you look at the last 12 months the number of mortgage approvals in September brings the total number of approved mortgages up to 270,000; an increase of 13.1% over the previous 12 months. The data for the first nine months of 2016 shows that there were a total of 212,587 mortgages approved, which is an increase of 12.6% over this period in 2015.

Spanish Mortgage Approvals up 6.4% in August

Spanish Mortgage Approvals up 6.4% in August

Confidence in the Spanish property industry is growing as the sales figures and prices grow. Part of this is thanks to banks becoming a little more willing to lend their money and fuel the market recovery.

Data was published last week by the National Statistics Institute (INE) showing that 20,309 mortgages were approved in August, which was 6.4% up on August of last year.

The growth continued the trend of increased mortgage approval levels over the past 25 out of 26 months. The only month that went against the grain was July of 2015. Every month in 2016 so far has seen an impressive number of mortgages approved as the Spanish are joining in with the Brits, Germans and Scandinavians in their hunt for Spanish property.

Taking a closer look at the data from August also shows that the average loan capital increased to €110,000; an increase of 4.8% over last year and a rise of 11.5% since August of 2015.

If you look at the year as a whole you’ll find that for the first eight months of 2016 there have been 186,000 new residential property mortgages approved in Spain. This is an increase of 13% over 2015, while taking a look at the past 12 months as a whole shows a 14% increase.

All in all Spanish banks have approved some 286,000 new mortgages over the last 12 months.

Spanish Mortgage Activity up 19% in the First Half of 2016

Spanish Mortgage Activity up 19% in the First Half of 2016

Spain has certainly moved in the right direction and

the next 7 years are fantastic for buying property

The data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) is available and it shows that 146,605 mortgages were registered up to June 30^th 2016. This is an increase of 19% in a year-long period.

When you look at the past 12 months as a whole you’ll find that over 270,000 mortgages were approved in Spain during this period, which is also a 19.1% increase compared to the previous year.

In just June there were 25,274 mortgages approved, which was a major 15.5% increase year-on-year. The amount of money loaned was also up 7.5% over last year up to €112,516.

This data confirms what studies and market reports have been telling us all year; there is a significant boost in the amount of interest in Spanish property in 2016. 2016 also saw property prices stabilise as confidence and stability returned to both the real estate industry and the Spanish economy as a whole.

Many of these mortgages are offered at fix rates because the Euribor rate, which regulates repayment terms for much of Europe, is currently low. The result of this trend is that more people are buying homes. In fact data from the Official College of Property Registrars of Spain has shown that382,000 property transactions took place in the 12 months leading to June 2016, which is the highest number of property transactions in five years.

Mortgage Activity Continues to Rise in Spain for 24th Straight Month

Mortgage Activity Continues to Rise in Spain for 24th Straight Month.

Banks have become more generous with lending their money and buyers are becoming more generous with spending their money. There’s never been a better time for Spanish property.

Buying Property in Spain is becoming easier as

bank are lending again

All the signs that the Spanish property market is looking healthy are there; the economic data, real estate research and surveys, and even your own eyes can see that urbanisations are becoming fuller, roads are becoming busier, and those expat bubbles are continuing to expand across the Mediterranean.

New figures published by the Spanish Central Statistics Unit last week further proved that the country is definitely in the middle of a strong recovery.

The most recent figures come from May and they show that 34% more mortgages were approved for Spanish property over May of 2015. This increase was also the 24^th straight increase – a growth period of two whole years for Spanish mortgages.

There were a total of 26,579 mortgages approved in May, bringing the total number of new mortgages for the period leading up to May 2016 up to 121,000; an increase of 19.7% over the same period of time in 2015.

Looking back over the past 12 months showed the statisticians that there was a 20% increase over last year with 265,000 mortgages approved between May of 2015 and May of 2016.

The data covers all of Spain and narrowing down the data proved encouraging as the analysts saw that all 17 of the autonomous communities in Spain recorded their own increase in mortgage activity. The areas where the increase was higher than the national average were Aragon (51.6% increase) and the Balearics and Basque Country (both up 66.9%).

The national average loan was €104,480 which was just 0.8% below the average mortgage of last May. Even though the average loan is down a little the other statistics that have been released in previous months show that Spanish property prices are steadily increasing.

Spanish Property Up with Mortgage Approvals

Spanish Property Up with Mortgage Approvals

The property market is continuing its recovery

Spain has a number of appealing factors, such as having great bargains, beauty, not to mention the sheer charm of the country.

This appeal is no doubt a major factor in the recovery of the Spanish property market as prices, sales, and mortgage approvals are all on the up.

Two sets of data were released recently that would seem to confirm that the Spanish property market truly is looking much healthier these days.

The first came from the financial advice firm Arcano. They analysed the property prices for all 17 regions for Spain and found house prices have risen by an average of 6.9% when compared to last year.

The prices were up in every region. There were also 10% more transactions than in 2015. Arcano believe that the positive changes were brought about because the Spanish economy is recovering – something itself fuelled by the rise in domestic demand – as well as heightened interest from foreign buyers in Britain, Germany and France.

Arcano also found that Spain’s supply of new and completed homes was running out and that there was a rise in planning applications. Only 46,000 homes were built during 2015 but it looks like more could be built in 2016.

The numbers from Arcano and the trends they suggest were backed up by the second set of data from the National Statistics Institute (NSI). Their data showed that mortgage approvals in March were up 14.5% when compared to March, 2015.

Overall there were 22,983 mortgages approved in March with the average mortgage also increasing by 4.8% and increasing to €107,861. This was further evidence, if any was needed, that there is more confidence in the Costa del sol real estate sector with rising house prices and Spanish banks being less restrictive with their lending

Mortgage Approval in Spain sees record rise in 2015

Mortgage Approval in Spain sees record rise in 2015

Spain witnessed the largest year on year increase in the number of mortgage approvals in 2015, as the rise was 19.8%, the steepest ever since they started to keep a record from 2003 which is great news for investors wanting to buy property in the Costa del Sol and Spain.

As per the statistics revealed by INE (National Statistical Institute), it is a clear indicator that the economy of Spain is back in track ever since the decade long slump after real estate market crashed in 2008.

Record number of mortgages approved in Spain in 2015

Ever since the global recession in 2008, people in Spain have continued to remain unemployed, started working for lower pays and also lost their financial security due to the global turmoil. However, due to the market scenario improving since 2014, the economy of Spain has been improving and has seen a growth rate of 3.2% in 2015, making Spain one of the best performing economies among the EU countries.

Following the recession, property prices saw a sudden cut of 40% on an average. It has only been improving since then and also, people now have job security. Banks have started to offload the properties they forcefully had to buy during the recession. All these statistics prove that the economy of Spain has been improving steadily.

Data released by INE also revealed that the total capital all over Spain borrowed as mortgages stood at €25.9 billion, which is a 24.1% increase compared to the previous year.

However, the mortgages borrowed were highest in 2006 just before the crash, which stood at a whopping €188.3 billion. Going forward, the growth is only bound to increase and home loans have registered an increased growth continuously from the past 19 months and investment properties are being bought in Spain.