Highest number of new February mortgages since 2011
Average interest rate continues to grow and stands at 2.86%
mortgages
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Highest number of new January mortgages since 2011
Average interest rate continues to grow for seventh month in a row and stands at 2.65%
Home sales up, best September figure since 2010
7,683 new mortgages in Catalonia, 9.3% more than a year ago
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Spanish government and banks agree to ease mortgages for households earning under €29,400
2% cap on rent increase extended through 2023 after budget deal
Barcelona: 18 evictions per day, more than any other city in Spain
Struggle for affordable housing continues despite moratorium on evictions for vulnerable people
Grassroots groups to protest government housing decree
Activists claim new rule fails to address “housing crisis" and demand measures against “abusive rental prices”
Spanish government overrides Supreme Court: ‘banks, not citizens, will pay mortgage tax’
Council of Ministers approves royal decree after controversial court ruling
Brussels to take Spain to court if it fails “to enact EU rules on mortgage credit”
The European Commission (EC) urged Spain to “enact EU rules on mortgage credit” and to “fully transpose EU-wide rules on mortgages”. “If these Member States fail to act within two months, they may be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU”, the EU executive said this Thursday. The warning was extended to eight more countries Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden. Member States had to implement these rules in their national law by the 21st of March 2016, but having missed the original deadline, the EC warned them through letters of formal notice last May. The Mortgage Credit Directive (Directive 2014/17/EU), which was adopted on 4 February 2014, aims to “improve consumer protection measures across the EU by introducing EU-wide responsible lending practices”.
Banc Sabadell nearly doubled its profits in 2015 after integrating UK bank TSB
The Catalan banking group Banc Sabadell earned €708.4 million in 2015, according to figures published by the company. This result is 90.6% higher than that obtained in 2014. The good result of Banc Sabadell in 2015 is mainly due to the integration of the UK bank TSB in June, which added accounts worth €122 million. Without this operation, Banc Sabadell’s net profits would only had grown by 57.8%. Thus, net interest income, which measures the bank’s ordinary activity of receiving deposits and authorising credit, was €3.203 billion, 41.7% higher than in 2014. The internationalisation of Banc Sabadell has already been consolidated and 32% of the credits were authorised abroad. In 2014, this percentage was 6%. The default rate, which has dropped to 7.79%, 5 points less than in 2014, also contributed to Banc Sabadell’s positive result.