Source: Pexels Author: Redaction Banco de Portugal released on Wednesday, March 27, data on bank profits, which increased by 80% in 2022 compared to 2023. According to the bank, the banks in Portugal were able to make EUR 5.6 billion last year as a result of rising interest rates. This is already a historic result for the sector. The five largest Portuguese banking institutions, which include Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), BCP, Santander, BPI and Novobanco, managed to reach 4.4 billion euros in profits last year, 78% of the result obtained by the entire national banking system. Thus, the profitability of the sector almost doubled as a result of the increase in profits , from 8.7% in 2022 to 14.8% in 2023, compared to equity, and there were banks exceeding 20%, namely Caixa, Santander and Novobanco. As for the profitability of assets , that is, the level of profits as a function of assets, this doubled from 0.69% to almost 1.3% , with the sector operating an asset of 422.2 billion euros. Read also: Older companies have higher turnover , ECB warns of risks with bad loans
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction The National Institute of Statistics (INE) advanced this Tuesday with data on the median values of bank valuation in housing, which increased in February, 10 € compared to the previous month . The value is thus fixed at 1,560 euros per square meter, with an annual rate of change of 5.5%, compared to 4.4% recorded in January. This is an increase of 0.6% , with the number of bank valuations around 28.3 thousand. Highlighted is the Autonomous Region of the Azores, with the steepest increase compared to the previous month, of 2.6% . The remaining regions also showed positive variations, however, the Autonomous Region of Madeira was the only one with zero variation and, compared to February 2023, the median value of the evaluations increased 5.5%. It was also in the Autonomous Region of Madeira that the variation was more intense, 19.1%, without any decrease. The INE bulletin also adds that in February, the median value of the bank valuation of apartments was 1,741 euros per square meter , increasing 4.8% compared to the same month last year, with the most pronounced values occurring in Greater Lisbon and the Algarve . In the Centre, on the other hand, the lowest value was recorded. Read: Less residents in Portugal bought a house in 2023 , More and more banks are partners of credit intermediaries
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction If you have a home loan it is important to be aware of how mortgages work and everything that involves this guarantee to the bank, which can be canceled in three different situations . Through the mortgage, it ensures the payment of the housing credit that it has with your bank or financial institution, even if it defaults, since the mortgaged asset serves as a guarantee to pay the debt . But we explain everything to you in greater detail. What is a mortgage? When you buy a home using mortgage credit, you can take out a mortgage to ensure that the money the bank has lent you will be paid. In other words, it is a guarantee . Your financial capacity is assessed at this time in order to understand whether or not you will be able to repay the loan you want to borrow. Thus, the mortgage serves to minimize the risk of default, which is usually the property to acquire. However, it can be mortgaged, too, the property of a third person, and there are banks that accept the mortgage of the borrower’s family home. In short, the mortgage is the guarantor of financing for the purchase of a property, which allows buyers to pay the value of the property over a period of several years. In what situations can the mortgage be cancelled? The scenarios that may involve the cancellation of the mortgage are the sale of a property registered with a mortgage, the payment of the mortgage debt or a situation of foreclosure. Discover each of these situations. When you sell a house with a mortgage When buying a house with the financing of the bank, through a housing loan, you can see, in the future, with the sale of the same property. In this situation, where you sell the property that the bank is paying for, you can effectively cancel the mortgage. In this situation, it can only do so if the money acquired with the sale of the property is sufficient to pay the loan contracted , and must request, for this purpose, the cancellation of the mortgage and proceed to the registration of the sale of the house to the new buyer. When you pay the mortgage debt When you manage to settle the mortgage debt, you can ask for the cancellation of the mortgage, because if you have paid your debt, you no longer need to provide any guarantee. After eliminating the mortgage, you must cancel your registration in a Land Registry and, after having your mortgage loan fully paid, the bank sends you a document confirming the cancellation of this guarantee. In this situation, your contract obligations are fully fulfilled. The document that the bank will send you is called a mortgage . When you expunge the mortgage on the property you bought It can happen to buy a house with a mortgage, and it is possible to cancel it after the acquisition . The law says that the new owner of the mortgaged house can proceed to this cancellation, however, only through a judicial process. Thus, if you have bought a property recently, and it is mortgaged, after registration the purchase will not be responsible for the payment of the previous mortgage. In this situation, you must inform the creditors of the procedure, completely pay all the debts associated with the mortgage or reach a payment agreement with the creditors, which may involve the payment of an amount equal to the value of the purchase of the property. After these procedures, you must file a lawsuit with the court, proving that everything went well. Have you been clear about this? Follow SUPERCASA Notícias for more topics like this and, if you still have questions about how you can sell your home, we advise you to read Formalize the sale of a property: what are the bureaucracies
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction The Bank of Portugal (BdP) released this Monday, March 25, its report monitoring the macro-prudential recommendations, where it reveals the profiles of new customers of housing loans contracted in 2023 . According to the analysis, the profile of new customers improved , despite not being directly comparable with that of previous years. According to the bank, 61% of new residential credit customers have a low risk profile, meaning that they are customers with effort rates less than or equal to 50% of their income, as well as a Loan to value ratiowhich means the amount borrowed by the bank against the value of the property, less than or equal to 80%. As explained by the BdP, since 2018 there has been an improvement in the risk profile of borrowers who contract housing loans, and last year there was a clear growth in housing credit agreements granted to clients with a low-risk profile, which increased to 61% in 2023 from 49% in 2022. Average age of buyers is 30 years It was also possible to determine the weighted average maturity of new home loans, which stood at 30.6 years of age during the month of December last year. This means that banks are complying with the recommendations to converge the average maturity for 30 years, however, in the European Union (EU), Portugal is one of the countries with the highest average maturity. On the duration of loans, this is usually tens of years, so it is up to the banks to assess the ability of the customer to continue with the payment of instalments if interest rates increase. In this sense, the rate of effort that banks have to simulate to facilitate access to credit has been reduced from 3% to 1.5% in order to increase interest rates. Keep abreast ECB warns of bad credit risks
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction The Bank of Portugal (BdP) shows, through its data, that the value of remittances sent from emigrants to Portugal increased compared to last year, having grown from 349.5 million euros in January 2023 to 352.26 million euros in January this year. On the other hand, immigrants working in Portugal only sent 51.48 million euros to their countries of origin , which represents an increase of 7.6% compared to January 2023, in which the amount was 47.83 million euros. According to the analysis, the value of the remittances of emigrants had the most significant growth in the Portuguese-speaking African Countries of 13.13% , as a result of the increase of 30.5 million euros in January this year, compared to the EUR 26.96 million recorded in the same month last year. Angola, in turn, represents the bulk of the amounts received in Portugal, having been sent 30 million euros this year . This is an increase of 14.68% compared to the 26.16 million sent last year in annual terms. Read also Portugal was the seventh largest beneficiary of the EIB in 2023 , Unemployment rate increased in six OECD countries and Euro area GDP only grew 0.4% in 2023
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, admits that there may be a decrease in interest rates in favor of the May and June data , if they reveal a strong response to the implemented monetary policy. Still, there is no commitment to further cuts afterwards. This statement was made during an event organised by the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability in Germany, where Largarde admitted that, if these data reveal a sufficient degree of alignment between the trajectory of underlying inflation and the ECB’s projections, assuming that transmission remains strong, there may be a revision of the monetary policy cycle and easing the restrictive stance, he said. After this assessment, however, it is not certain that there is a new relief in interest rates: even after the first rate cut, we will not be able to commit ourselves in advance to a specific trajectory of rates , he stressed, being necessary continue to confirm that the new data support the ECB’s forecasts of the inflation trend. In the coming months, we will receive more data, which will help us assess whether we can be sufficiently confident about the way forward as we move into the next phase of our monetary policy cycle, said the ECB President. The next decisions will thus be shaped by companies profit margins, wage growth and productivity growth , but until all the relevant information is gathered, there should be no consensus for monetary policy adjustment. On economy, also follow: Portugal was the seventh largest beneficiary of the EIB in 2023 , Annual inflation rate of the Eurozone declined in February and Trend: fewer companies are born and more close in Portugal
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction The European Union (EU) bank announced on Tuesday 19 March that funding from the EIB Group (European Investment Bank) grew by more than 25% in 2023 compared to the previous year, placing Portugal in seventh place in the ranking of countries that benefited most from these capital injections. According to the data, half of the amount allocated to Portugal was channelled to small businesses and mid-cap companies . Although it continues to be one of the countries that most benefits from EIB support, Portugal fell one position in the ranking compared to the previous year, and in 2023, Portugal benefited from new financial commitments made by the EIB Group [...] of more than 2.1 billion euros, which represents an increase of more than 25 per cent over the previous year, reads the statement released. The EIB Group delivered excellent results in Portugal in 2023, says EIB President Nádia Calviño, expressing that these investments have contributed to strengthening the competitiveness of the Portuguese economy and have a concrete impact on the ground, increasing social cohesion and promoting an economy. Read more about the Portuguese economy and market: INE confirms slowdown in inflation in February , Unemployment rate rises in six OECD countries and Amount redeemed from PPRs in 2023 exceeds €1.2bn
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction Data presented this Thursday, March 14, by the Bank of Portugal (BdP) reveals an increase in the number of foreigners obtaining home loans, now representing more than 10% of the total granted last year. Although foreign borrowers accounted for more of the total number of new home loans, rising from 9.5% in 2022 to 11.7% in 2023, the amount granted was lower, at 1.2 million euros, which represents a decrease of around 6% on the previous year. In total, around 10 billion euros were financed for the purchase of a home, which represents a drop of 24% when compared to the figures for 2022, explained by the sharp rise in interest rates on home loans. As for the nationalities that stand out in obtaining new home loans, they are Brazilians , with 28% of the amount granted, the British , with 9% and the Americans , representing 6%. Keep up to date with all the latest news with SUPERCASA Notícias
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction According to data released by the Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority (ASF), Portuguese families redeemed more than 1.2 billion euros from their retirement savings plans (PPR) in 2023, at a time when it was possible to channel these funds into home loan costs without penalties. The authoritys data shows that the amount redeemed from PPRs is more than 51% of the amount redeemed in the previous year, with the greatest incidence in classic products, namely non-linked PPR insurance, with guaranteed capital and traditionally more conservative, which totalled almost 982.7 million euros. After classic products, the second largest number of redemptions in 2023 was in linked PPR insurance, which is characterised by higher risk and greater exposure to the financial markets, from which 232.3 million euros were redeemed. This influx, as the ASF explains, may be related to the exceptional period in which retirement savings and education plans (PPR and PPR/E) were allowed to be redeemed without penalty, the aim of which was to mitigate the impact of rising inflation. Keep up to date: Use of PPR will be limited for house purchases by the tax authorities , Bank transfers will be simpler from June and More and more banks are partners of credit intermediaries
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction According to the National Association of Authorized Credit Intermediaries (ANICA), banks and credit intermediaries are increasingly forming partnerships to capture business , and have even marketed between 70% and 90% of the housing loans of the major national banks. The banks have organized themselves into partnership departments and are now determined to attract intermediaries, because they know that by doing so they will win more business, explains Tiago Vilaça, President of ANICA. These are benefits that average around 1% to 1.5% of the amount financed , when commissions are paid by banks to intermediaries in 90% of cases and, despite the fact that last year the real estate market saw a drop in new home loans, the business of credit intermediaries didnt really feel much of an impact. Leveraging the business of credit intermediaries was the transfer market , which increased exponentially: it has become a concern of the Portuguese to lower their house payment and ensure that the interest rate on the loan is fixed, so that the monthly payment doesnt go up significantly again, concludes the head of the association. Continue reading: More families opt for mixed rates on home loans and Are you buying a house? Negotiate the best credit conditions
Source: Pexels Author: Redaction This is the reference interest rate applied to the banks mortgage loan . It is often used as a comparative term by those who want to take out a loan and need to compare values between different banks. Although its an important rate, it shouldnt be analysed on its own. It is usually analysed in conjunction with another well-known rate, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). The nominal annual interest rate (APR) includes the annual charges for the amount of credit taken out and the associated interest. The advantage of an annual rate is that it ends up being more realistic. As it is nominal, it is not influenced by inflation. However, you should always check the real interest rate (simply subtract inflation from the nominal interest rate). The nominal annual interest rate can be distinguished into two types: the gross nominal annual interest rate (GNAR) and the net nominal annual interest rate (NANAR). The gross nominal annual interest rate (GANAR) refers to the amount of interest with the tax still to be deducted, i.e. the tax will still be withheld at source by the bank, and the net nominal annual interest rate (NANAR) refers to the amount of interest you will receive in your account, with the tax withheld (28%). In short, if youre going to take out a mortgage, you should take the APR into account, but you shouldnt rely on it alone: sometimes it can be low, but its likely that the bank will require you to take out other financial products. You should therefore take the APR as a reference, but be guided by the APR. Other concepts to get to know: What are Liberating Rates? Learn, Tangible and Intangible Assets: what are they? and What is a bank moratorium? Find out more
Source: Freepik Author: Redaction This Wednesday, February 28, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) released data on foreign direct investment (FDI) transactions in Portugal, which fell by 16% in 2023 compared to 2022, totaling 6.8 billion euros. However, of this total, more than half was in real estate investment. The BdP data shows that, of the total FDI transactions in Portugal in 2023, more than half, with a total of 3.9 billion euros, were channeled into the real estate market, which represents a growth of 22% compared to 2022. This growth makes 2023 the year with the highest incidence of foreign direct investment in the sector, with the highest value recorded since the beginning of the BdPs series, which began in 2008. According to the BdP, most FDI transactions last year came from European countries , accounting for 4,993 million euros, followed by Asian countries, with 1,175 million euros. Thus, the stock of foreign direct investment at the end of 2023 was 18 billion euros, an increase of 10.6 billion euros on the previous year , while Portugals stock of direct investment abroad was 64 billion euros. In this sense, the BdP comments that since 2008 both stocks have increased, albeit at different rates , with FDI more than doubling between the end of 2008 and the end of last year, while our countrys direct investment in other foreign countries increased by 22%. Read more: Real estate funds increased their focus on residential properties , Real estate investment in Portugal stands at 1.6M€ in 2023 or Will you invest in the Portuguese real estate market? Tips