The simulations conducted for Lusa by DECO PROteste/Contas e Direitos are based on a scenario involving a loan of 150,000 euros over 30 years with a profit margin (‘spread’) of 1%.
Next month, a mortgage under these conditions, indexed to the 12-month Euribor, will result in a payment of 665.06 euros, a decrease of 114.52 euros compared to the amount paid since the last adjustment in April of the previous year.
Meanwhile, a borrower with a similar loan indexed to the six-month Euribor will see their payment decrease to 663.97 euros, down by 74.64 euros from the 738.61 euros paid since the last revision in September.
If the credit is indexed to the three-month Euribor, the installment will be 668.72 euros, representing a reduction of 32.35 euros from the last review in January.
The monthly payment reduction for contracts renewing in April is more pronounced in loans with a 12-month Euribor index and slightly less for those with six and three-month indices compared to those renewed in March.
Since the beginning of 2024, individuals with variable-rate mortgages have been experiencing decreases in their monthly payments as contracts renew, due to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) interest rate cuts.
On March 6, the ECB decided to lower interest rates by 25 basis points, marking the sixth reduction since the start of this rate-cutting cycle.
The decrease in payments is more significant for loans indexed to the 12-month Euribor as these are only adjusted once a year, thus reflecting the cumulative impact of all interest rate reductions since the previous review.
Despite the decrease in payments made to the bank for housing loans, amounts remain significantly higher than before the ECB began raising rates to combat inflation, a cycle that started in July 2022.
The credit payments simulated by DECO PROteste/Contas e Direitos in February 2022, when Euribor rates were negative, were 447.01 euros for the six-month Euribor and 444.85 euros for the three-month Euribor.
The average Euribor rate considered for revising a variable-rate loan is that of the month preceding the contract signing. These values were calculated based on the Euribor averages in March 2025, which were 2.385% for six months, 2.442% for three months, and 2.398% for 12 months.
