Average mortgage interest rate in Spain 2014-2023, per quarter

Mortgage interest rates in Spain soared in 2022, after falling below 1.5 percent at the end of 2021. In the first quarter of 2023, the average weighted interest rate stood at 3.39 percent. That was more than double the rate in the same period the previous year. Despite the increase, Spain had a considerably lower mortgage interest rate than many other  European countries.

The aftermath of the property bubble
Before the bursting of the real estate bubble, the housing market experienced a period of intense activity. A context marked by economic growth, high employment rate, low interest rates, skyrocketing house prices and land speculation, among others, encourage massive lending for the acquisition of property; in 2005 alone, more than 1.3 million home mortgages were granted in Spain. When the bubble burst and the financial crisis hit the country, residential real estate transactions plummeted and households’ non-performing loans jumped to nearly 50 billion euros as countless families were not able to cope with their debts. Over a decade after the onset of the crisis, and despite falling mortgage rates, the volume of mortgage loans keeps decreasing every year.

A homeowner country
Traditionally, Spain has been a country of homeowners; in 2021, the homeownership rate was roughly 76 percent. While nearly half of Spanish households own their property with no outstanding payment, the percentage of households that have loan or mortgage pending has been decreasing in recent years. Despite ownership remaining as the preferred tenure option, cultural changes, job insecurity and mounting house prices are prompting Spaniards to opt more and more to become tenants instead of owners, as shown in the changing dynamics of the Spanish residential rental market.