(Finance) – Positive signals are arriving from the world of home mortgages. According to the‘joint observatory Facile.it – Mutui.it, in the first six months of 2024 in Lazio the demand for financing has increased by 20% compared to the same period in 2023. The average amount requested also increased (+5%) and the average value of the properties subject to the mortgage (+4%).
“2023 was a complex year for the mortgage market, hit by rising interest rates and lower disposable income from families, already struggling with rising inflation – explain the experts of Facile.it –. However, 2024 started positively, with increasing demand, driven above all by the improvement in the conditions offered by banks for fixed rates, which generated greater confidence in the future among consumers”.
Although, at a national level, the market is still far from the levels reached in the years prior to the rate increase and disbursements are still subdued (-13% in financed flows in the first quarter of 2024 according to Assofin), the recovery in demand gives hope for a second half of the year with growing values also on the front of loans granted to families to purchase a house.
The applicant’s profile
Analyzing a sample of over 53 thousand mortgage requests collected online in Lazio, it emerges that those who applied for financing in the first 6 months of the year aimed to obtain an average of 147,732 euros, an amount that increased (+5%) compared to the same period in 2023. The average value of the property subject to the mortgage also increased, reaching 238,394 euros (+4%). The duration of the mortgage dropped slightly from almost 25 years to just over 24 years, while the average age of applicants almost reached 42 years (an increase of almost one year compared to 2023).
Limiting the analysis to only requests for mortgages for the purchase of a first home, it emerges that the average amount requested in Lazio in the first 6 months of 2024 was equal to 155,661 euros, up 5% compared to the same period last year. The average value of the property also increased, reaching approximately 223,395 euros. The average age of applicants (38 and a half years) and the duration of the repayment plan (just over 26 and a half years) remained stable.
Requests for surrogacy are growing, driven by the favorable conditions offered by banks for fixed rates: between January and June 2024, this type of request represented 30% of the Lazio total, an increase of 8 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year.
The provincial trend
Analyzing the mortgage requests collected in Lazio in the first half of 2024, some differences emerge at the local level.
Rome is the province in Lazio where the highest average amount was recorded (152,521 euros), followed by Latina (126,495 euros) and Rieti (116,625 euros). Frosinone (113,251 euros) and Viterbo (112,170 euros) close the ranking.
The offer and the rates
From the supply point of view, the first six months of the year were characterized by good conditions on the fixed rate front. The IRS, the reference index for fixed mortgages, despite a fluctuating trend due to the performance of the bond market, remained at low levels throughout the semester and this allowed banks to keep the rates offered to customers low. According to the simulations of Facile.it for an average mortgage of 126 thousand euros in 25 years (LTV 70%), the best offers available online start at a rate (TAN) of 2.86%, with an instalment of 588 euros. Even more convenient rates for class A or B properties, with green mortgages starting at rates (TAN) equal to 2.72% and an instalment of 579 euros.
As for variable rates, despite the drop in indices due to the ECB cut, values are still high; for an average mortgage, the best offers start at a rate (TAN) of 4.34%, with an instalment of 682 euros. According to the forecasts of Euribor futures, which represent the expectations of market operators, Euribor, the reference index for variable rate mortgages, could drop further between now and the end of the year, but the benefit would still be limited in terms of savings on variable instalments.
(Photo: Gino Crescoli / Pixabay)