With today’s changes, the three-month Euribor rate increased to 2.356%, surpassing both the six-month rate at 2.320% and the 12-month rate at 2.326%.
The six-month Euribor rate, which in January 2024 became the most commonly used in Portugal for variable-rate housing loans, rose today, being set at 2.320%, an increase of 0.011 points from Tuesday’s 2.309%, marking a new low since November 17, 2022.
Data from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) for January indicate that the six-month Euribor accounted for 37.75% of the stock of variable-rate loans for permanent home mortgages. The same data indicate that the 12-month and three-month Euribor represented 32.52% and 25.57%, respectively.
The 12-month Euribor rate also increased, reaching 2.326%, a rise of 0.049 points from 2.277% on Tuesday, a new low since September 16, 2022.
Similarly, the three-month Euribor, which has been below 2.5% since March 14, increased today to 2.356%, up 0.032 points from the previous low set on January 12, 2023, on Tuesday.
On a monthly basis, the average Euribor for March fell again for three, six, and 12 months, though less sharply than in previous months.
Specifically, the average Euribor for March decreased by 0.083 points to 2.442% for three months, by 0.075 points to 2.385% for six months, and by 0.009 points to 2.398% for 12 months.
As anticipated by the markets, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided in March to reduce its 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 halt interest rate cuts in April.
The next ECB monetary policy meeting will be held on April 16 and 17 in Frankfurt.
The Euribor rates are determined by the average rates at which a group of 19 eurozone banks are willing to lend money to each other on the interbank market.
