Today’s changes saw the three-month Euribor rate increase to 2.324%, surpassing both the six-month rate at 2.309% and the 12-month rate at 2.277%.
The six-month Euribor rate, which in January 2024 became the most commonly used rate in Portugal for variable rate home loans, declined today to settle at 2.309%, down 0.027 points, marking a new low since November 17, 2022.
Data from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) for January shows that the six-month Euribor represented 37.75% of the stock of loans for permanent own housing with a variable rate. The same data indicates that the 12-month and three-month Euribor accounted for 32.52% and 25.57%, respectively.
Over a 12-month period, the Euribor rate also fell, reaching 2.277%, a decline of 0.029 points, and a new low since September 16, 2022.
Similarly, the three-month Euribor, which has been below 2.5% since March 14, fell today to 2.324%, down 0.012 points, and a new low since January 12, 2023.
On a monthly basis, the Euribor average in March decreased again across three, six, and 12 months, though the reduction was less pronounced than in previous months.
The March Euribor average 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 European Central Bank (ECB) decided in March to cut the key interest rates for the fifth consecutive time in six months, by a quarter-point, to 2.5%.
ECB President Christine Lagarde suggested that the institution is prepared to pause interest rate cuts in April.
The next ECB monetary policy meeting is scheduled for April 16 and 17 in Frankfurt.
The Euribor rates are established by the average rates at which a group of 19 Eurozone banks are willing to lend money to each other on the interbank market.
