Portugal’s home loan interest rate was lower than the eurozone’s in April for the first time since September 2022, while the rate on new term deposits fell for the fourth month in a row.
According to data published this Wednesday by the Bank of Portugal (BdP), the average interest rate on new home loan transactions (including completely new and renegotiated contracts) rose from 3.88% in March to 3.75% in April, and for the first time since September 2022 year, the interest rate in the eurozone (which was 3.77%) was higher than that recorded in Portugal.
The average interest rate on new housing loan agreements decreased by 0.05 percentage points, amounting to 3.63%, and on revised agreements, the average interest rate decreased by 0.25 percentage points, to 4.05%.
For consumer loans, the average rate of new transactions in April was 9.63% (9.54% in March). For loans for other purposes, the average interest rate decreased by 0.19 percentage points, to 4.89%.
New lending transactions to individuals in April amounted to 2.588 million euros, which is 67 million less than in March.
The value of new loan agreements for individuals increased by 71 million euros, to 2.061 million, with increases in housing targets (+31 million euros to 1.339 million), consumption (+30 million euros to 491 million) and other targets (+ from 10 million euros to 231 million).
In terms of loan renegotiations, they fell by €138 million in April to €527 million, mainly due to a decline in mortgage loan renegotiations, which fell by €129 million compared to March to €484 million.
Data released today by the BdP also shows that the average interest rate on new retail time deposits fell for the fourth month in a row in April, falling to 2.75% from 2.77% in March.
The volume of new transactions on time deposits of individuals in April amounted to 10.645 million euros, which is 2.947 million euros more than in the previous month, which is due to “largely the re-application in time deposits of amounts previously invested in the deposits of this bank.” type and which reached maturity in April without automatic extension.”
For new deposits with maturities of up to one year, the average interest rate decreased by 0.01 percentage point to 2.79%, with this class still being the term class with the highest average interest, making up 96% of new deposits in April.
For new deposits with a maturity of one to two years, the average interest rate decreased by 0.18 percentage points, from 2.21% to 2.03%, and the average interest rate for new deposits with a maturity of more than two years increased from 1.98% to 2. 01%, although this class of deposits continued to have a residual weight in the composition of new deposits of individuals (0.36%).
Across all eurozone countries, the average interest rate on new deposits fell by 0.05 percentage points, a steeper fall than in Portugal, to 3.11%.
According to the BDP, “Portugal has maintained its relative position compared to other euro area countries.”
As for loans to enterprises, the average interest rate on new transactions decreased by 0.10 percentage points (from 5.72% in March to 5.62% in April), and their amount increased to 1.882 million euros, an increase of 44 million euros more compared to the previous month.
As for the average interest rate on new corporate time deposits, it increased by 0.01 percentage points between March and April, from 3.38% to 3.39% in April.
New deposit transactions in April totaled €7,985 million, up €1,627 million from the previous month, with term deposits up to one year accounting for 99% of new corporate term deposits.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.