The landscape begins to change a bit. This week, the Bank of Portugal revealed statistics on interest rates on deposits and loans, as well as the amounts invested or granted.

We are already beginning to see remuneration in deposits, still below 1%, but there is less money invested in these products. As revealed earlier this week by the Bank of Portugal, individual deposits in Portuguese banks fell by 2.1 billion euros, standing at 177.8 billion euros at the end of February. There was, however, an amount of new term deposits of 5,900 million. On the contrary, the subscription of savings certificates increased by 2,600 million euros.

In the same month, the average interest rate on new term deposits with natural persons increased to 0.65%, compared to 0.56% in January. Even so, only new deposits with a maturity of 1 to 2 years from individuals are remunerating above 1%. Deposits with shorter maturities (up to 1 year) and longer maturities (more than two years) are still below 1%.

In any case, the Bank of Portugal draws attention to the fact that deposits with a maturity of more than two years have increased the remuneration by 39 basis points to 0.54%, “the highest value in six years”. That is why the percentage placed in these terms grows in new deposits.

Still in deposits, companies placed 3.9 billion euros in February, with 98% of that amount placed in products with maturities of up to one year. And they received an average of 1.5% on these deposits, “the biggest monthly increase in the last 10 years,” after receiving 1.05% in January.

The fixed rate on home loans is close to the variable rate

In February, new home loan contracts slowed for a seventh month. The variation rate increased from 4.8% in July 2022 to 2.5% in February. And at the end of the second month of the year, the amount of mortgage loans was 99,800 million euros.

Consumer loans amount to 20,600 million euros for individuals.

This Friday, March 31, the Bank of Portugal revealed that the average interest rate on loans for new homes rose again, from 3.32% in January to 3.52% in February. Consumer credit rates stood at 8.48% in February (they had been 8.45% in January).

As revealed by the supervisor, interest rates on fixed mortgage loans are close to floating rates. In February, the average interest rate on new fixed loans was 4.2%, while the variable rate was 3.56%. According to the recently published diploma, banks have to provide consumers with information with “the simulation of the conditions of the credit contract for the modalities of variable, fixed and mixed interest rate” when it comes to home loans. 90% of the loans in Portugal are linked to the evolution of the Euribor.

The Bank of Portugal detected few personal loans used to make a down payment on the purchase of a house with mortgage loans

Also in February, the early repayments of housing loans continued, as had already happened in January. 0.85% of the stock of loans was repaid, a figure similar to that of January, higher than the monthly average of 0.54% in 2022. The Bank of Portugal also reveals that “partial early repayments have been gaining importance in the last few months and already represent 23% of the amount of early repayment”. There was the publication of the diploma that prevents banks from charging commissions for the amortization of credits.

In 98 banks supervised by Banco de Portugal, 94 improperly charged the early repayment commission