Mortgages that review the December Euribor will save 160 euros per year despite the new rise in the indicator

The one-year Euribor, the indicator most used in Spain to review variable rate mortgages, is about to close December with its fifth consecutive monthly increase. With only one day left, The index will drop around 2.27%, which will not prevent those who review their mortgage loan annually with this information from still being able to benefit from reductions in the payment. The reason is that the Euribor stood at 2.436% in the same month of 2024.

The fact that the European Central Bank (ECB) The decision to pause interest rate cuts last July has been decisive in the most recent evolution of the indicator, so this month’s rate will be the highest rate since March. However, mortgages that take the December data as a reference and whose review is annual – the majority of those established in Spain have this type of review – will continue to become cheaper, although less than they have done until now.

For an average mortgage of 150,000 euros for 25 years with a spread of one point, the savings will be about 13.4 euros per month and around 160 a year. If the loan is 300,000 euros, this saving could reach around 318 euros per year. The situation will be different in the case of mortgage loans that have a semiannual review, since for the same conditions, one of 150,000 euros will become more expensive by almost 15 euros per month and 89 euros throughout the semester.

2025 has been a year of certain volatility for the indicator, which has moved between the annual maximum in January, when it reached 2.525% and the minimum of 2.079% that it reached in July. Starting that month and coinciding with the change of direction announced by the ECB – the organization chose to maintain its reference rates until it checked whether trade and geopolitical tensions had an impact on inflation and the economy – the rise that it has been maintaining until this month began. Going forward, experts maintain that they foresee a certain stability or very timid increases.

Facing the first half of 2026 The Euribor could move at levels similar to the current ones, so in spring could register “the first increases in variable mortgage payments with annual review,” they explain from Kelisto. “It is true that the markets are beginning to anticipate, very timidly, longer-term scenarios, with a Euribor moving away from the official rate of 2%, but it is advisable not to overreact,” warns Pablo Vega, an expert at the Roams mortgage comparator.

The expert recalls that a year in the economy is a very long horizon and that as long as inflation is controlled (it stood at 2.1% in the region in November, according to Eurostat) there are no underlying reasons for the ECB to consider raising rates, with the consequent upward effect on loans. Bankinter’s analysis department predicts that the 12-month Euribor will be between 2.25% and 2.30% next year.

The movements of the ECB

The ECB kept the deposit rate at 2% at its last meeting of the year, held just a few days ago. Its president, Christine Lagarde, defended that this level is “a good place” for rates, although she made it clear that her position is not static and will depend on the evolution of the economy. This is a sign that rates will not adjust for some time unless there is an unforeseen crisis, says Félix Feather, economist at the management company Aberdeen Investments.

The firm assures that the upward revision of the growth forecasts by the entity indicates that economic activity will remain resilient in general and that inflation will probably be close to the objective, so they do not expect “any rate adjustment by the ECB during 2026.”