Highest number of new February mortgages since 2011

February saw the number of new mortgages increase by 6.9% compared to twelve months earlier, registering the highest figure for the second month of the year since 2011. 

According to data released on Wednesday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE), 6,479 mortgages were signed in Catalonia, around 6.2% fewer than in January. 

The total value of mortgages was €1.05 billion, around a 6% compared to February 2022, but a 2.5% drop from January's figures this year. The average interest rate went up, reaching 2.86% across Spain – roughly a third of mortgages were signed with a variable rate and the remaining at a fixed rate. 

The average interest rate for variable rate mortgages stood at 2.7% in February and 2.96% for those at fixed rates. 

Drop compared to January

February mortgage figures show a drop compared to January in all of Catalonia, according to data released by the INE on Wednesday.

The biggest drop was recorded in the southern territory of Tarragona, with 27.9% fewer mortgages in February than in the previous month. Girona, in the north of Barcelona, saw a 12.3% decrease, and western Lleida a 7.5%.

Meanwhile, new mortgages in the Barcelona area remained similar, with a slight drop of 0.4%.