A summary of the Latest Euribor and Spanish mortgage news

Euribor (12 months), the interest rate normally used to calculate mortgage repayments in Spain, fell a fraction to 2.097pc in August, a percentage fall of -3.9pc on the previous month.

As you can see from the graph above, the rise of Euribor seems to have peaked, at least for the time being. With markets fretting about a European debt crisis, expectations of rising interest rates have fallen, taking the heat off Euribor rates.

On an annualised basis, however, Euribor is still 48pc higher than it was a year ago, meaning higher monthly repayments for borrowers with variable-rate mortgages.

Repayments for a typical mortgage (150,000 Euros, 25 years) will go up by around 48 Euros /month, or 582 Euros / year, bad news for many a stretched household budget in Spain.

New mortgage lending continues its collapse

New mortgage lending collapsed 42pc in June (to 32,680 new mortgage approvals) compared to a year before, the 14th consecutive month of annualised falls, and one of the lowest levels on record.

The average new mortgage value signed in June was 109,431 Euros, down 8pc compared to June last year, with an average interest rate of 4.12pc, up 4.8pc on last year.

All of which means less money around to fuel demand for Spanish property, putting further downward pressure on prices.