Most credits indexed to Euribor for three and six months still have a lower index than they had when they were contracted, according to recent statements by the governor of Banco de Portugal (BdP), during the hearing of the Budget and Finance Commission. Mário Centeno believes that the peak of interest rates will arrive in August.
Considering that the current situation is "challenging", due to the rapid way in which the rise in interest rates has been transposed to the indexes of most housing loans, Centeno said that 75% of contracts indexed to the three-month Euribor and 69% of indexed to six months "have an index lower than the index used in the initial contract". In the case of those indexed to the 12-month Euribor, this situation covers 34% of the contracts.
However, he added, while in the case of the 12-month Euribor, the maximum value of the index will have already reached its peak in February, while contracts indexed to three and six months "will only reach their maximum during the summer months of this year". At stake are 70% of home loan contracts, taking into account that currently 40% of contracts use six-month Euribor, 30% three-month and 30% 12-month.