Mortgages Archives

Property Sales Buoyant After BREXIT and Fixed Rate Mortgages Increase

March 22, 2017 Property News

Property Sales Buoyant

The price of housing in 2016 increased (on average) by 5.7% over 2015, according to the Association of Property Registrars.

The purchase and sale of registered property in the fourth quarter reached 93,423 transactions, 11.2% more than in the same period of 2015 and the best result of any fourth quarter in the last seven years.

Over the whole of 2016, the market surpassed the barrier of the 400,000 conveyances: 403,743 operations, showing an increase of 13.9%.

Property resales rose by 18.5%, while new housing experienced a decrease of 3.2%.

Of the total transactions, 13.3% were made by foreigners (about 53,000 transactions).

By nationality during the fourth quarter, not put off in any way by Brexit, The British led with 16.4%, followed by Germans (9.2%), French (8.5%), Swedes (6.4%), and Belgians (6.3%).

Mortgages – Sales Buoyant after Brexit

Average mortgage of 111,656 euros
The average mortgage in 2016 was 111,656 €, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 2%.
31% of new mortgage loans are fixed interest rate, a new historical high.
2.4%, is the initial interest rates for new mortgagors, similar to the 2016.
The length of mortgage taken out decreased slightly during the fourth quarter, to 23 years and two months.
The average monthly mortgage rate in 2016 stood at 522.60 euros (2.7% less than in 2015), eating up an average of 27.5% of salary.

Brexit No Sweat

It will be Wednesday 29 March when the United Kingdom activates Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, the mechanism that initiates the process of Britain leaving the European Union.

Around 284,000 Britons, according to official data, reside permanently in Spain.

British Residents in EU

The National Bureau of Statistics has updated the figures of British residents in the European Union, and vice versa. About 900,000 Britons are scattered throughout the EU, while 3.1 million Europeans live in the United Kingdom.

Brits Choose Spain

Spain is the EU country where most British people live (308,805). However, it is ninth in the list of countries whose citizens move to Britain, behind Poland, Ireland, Romania, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, France and Germany.

London waits to see what the EU proposes for British residents in the 27 countries in order to match the arrangements and provide certainty.

. . .

Spanish Mortgage Costs Supreme Court Ruling – Lender Pays.

March 14, 2017 Real Estate

Good news for people buying Spanish Property with a Spanish Mortgage: Spanish Mortgage Costs Supreme Court Ruling – Lender Pays.

Spanish Mortgage Cheaper

In the past, buying a Spanish property by taking out a mortgage added up to 4% on the Property Purchase Price. This pushed the costs on top of the net property price to as high as 15%. Much of this happened because the mortgage lender forced you to assume the costs of the mortgage. Incidentally, this was a cost you could not claim against or offset as costs against income when you submitted your tax return because you were not the benefactor of the arrangement.

Spanish Legal System Defends Consumer

The Spanish Legal System should be applauded for its support of the ordinary consumer in this way and let’s hope it leads to renewed confidence in the property sector within Spain. Once more, the conclusion is that, with property prices still subdued, it is a Buyer’s Market and there has never been a better time to dip your toe’s in the market. This applies if you seek to take out a mortgage or pay for the property outright.

[Sentencia TS 705/2015]

The Supreme Court has analysed contractual terms between banks and consumer and adjudged them to be Unfair Contract Terms. As a result, all costs attributed by the bank to the consumer in which it is the bank who is the passive subject and could, in theory, deduct such costs from tax returns, must be borne by the bank.

Obiter Dictum

The Obiter Dictum of the decision looked at costs derived as a by-product of contracting the mortgage. This refers to Notarial, Land Registry (notifying the Charge against the Property on behalf of the Mortgage Lender), Transmission Tax, Stamp Duty for documents drafted in the Notary and other costs stemming from the mortgage – including Mortgage Indemnity Protection.

The judgment is available here, (in Spanish only): http://www.poderjudicial.es/stfls/TRIBUNAL%20SUPREMO/DOCUMENTOS%20DE%20INTER%C3%89S/TSCivil%2023.12.15%20%282658-13%29.pdf

Minutes of the Decision here, (in Spanish only):

http://www.poderjudicial.es/stfls/TRIBUNAL%20SUPREMO/DOCUMENTOS%20DE%20INTER%C3%89S/Nota%20de%20la%20Sala%20de%20lo%20Civil%2021%20de%20enero%202016.pdf