To buy a house, Italians prefer a fixed-rate mortgage, but once again it is the variable rate that scores the cheapest percentage ever recorded. According to the MutuiOnline.it Observatory relating to the month of January, variable-rate mortgages stopped on average at 0,92%, a new historic low after 0,93% in the previous month. An incredible value if compared to the pre-crisis peak of 2008, when the variable had reached 5,48%.
BUT 8 OUT OF 10 ITALIANS CHOOSE A FIXED-RATE MORTGAGE
Conversely, the fixed rate rose slightly, going from 2,10% in December to 2,12% in January. Italians, however, continue to prefer this solution, which, with a minimal cost difference compared to the variable rate, protects against possible future rate hikes by guaranteeing a low rate in any case (just six years ago the fixed rate was 6,02% ).
From the fourth quarter of 2017 to this first period of the new year, applications for fixed-rate mortgages increased by 3,6%, bringing the total percentage to 79,6%.
In the same period, the variable rate fell from 20,8 to 17,8% of applications, while the variable rate with cap fell from 2,3 to 1,7%.
The data on disbursements is more balanced, with the percentage falling at the beginning of the year to 72,2% (76,6% previously), a sign that the banks are compliant with requests and guarantee themselves long-term customers, but are also trying to offer other solutions .
THE AVERAGE AMOUNT GRANTED BY BANKS
The average amounts requested and disbursed are also slightly down after the enthusiasm of the end of last year. In January, Italians applied for mortgages with an average value of 127.930 euros (against 128.581 in the last quarter of 2017), while banks granted loans on average for 123.028 euros (almost unchanged from the previous 123.616). However, both values are better than the average recorded last year.
BACKFLAME OF THE SUBROGES
After the decline recorded in the second half of 2017, they are starting to rise again the subrogations, which in this first period of the year represent respectively 48,5% of the mortgages applied for (44,6% in the fourth quarter of 2017) and 47,4% of those disbursed (from 41,3%).
