Today’s adjustments saw the three-month Euribor rate decrease to 2.323%, positioning it above the six-month rate at 2.259% and the 12-month rate at 2.235%.
The six-month Euribor rate, which became the most used reference in Portugal for variable-rate housing loans as of January 2024, fell today to 2.259%. This marks a decrease of 0.044 points and establishes a new low since November 3, 2022.
Data from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) for February indicate that the six-month Euribor accounted for 37.52% of the stock of variable-rate loans for permanent housing. The same data show that the 12-month and three-month Euribor represented 32.50% and 25.72%, respectively.
The 12-month Euribor rate also decreased to 2.235%, a drop of 0.076 points, reaching a new low since September 15, 2022.
Similarly, the three-month Euribor, below 2.5% since March 14, fell today to 2.323%, a reduction of 0.026 points, achieving a new low since January 12, 2023.
On a monthly basis, the average Euribor in March decreased for three, six, and 12 months, though less sharply than in previous months.
The March average for three, six, and 12-month Euribor rates declined by 0.083 points to 2.442% for three months, 0.075 points to 2.385% for six months, and 0.009 points to 2.398% for 12 months.
As anticipated by the markets, the ECB decided in March to cut the benchmark interest rates for the fifth consecutive time in six months, reducing it by a quarter-point to 2.5%.
ECB President Christine Lagarde suggested that the institution is prepared to halt interest rate cuts in April.
The next ECB monetary policy meeting is scheduled for April 16 and 17 in Frankfurt.
The Euribor rates are determined by the average interest rates at which a panel of 19 eurozone banks are willing to lend money to each other on the interbank market.
