How much do Spaniards know about mortgages? 70% know little or nothing about hybrid mortgages, although they prefer them to variable mortgages

Although almost 70 percent of mortgages in force in Spain are variable rate, this type of mortgage is currently the type of mortgage least likely to be chosen by those who have to buy their first home with bank financing. Only 12.80% of respondents to mortgage buyer iAhorro’s survey choose to take out a variable mortgage as their first option. While the mixed mortgage will come in second with 24.20% of the votes, the fixed mortgage will be preferred with 50.30% of the votes. The remaining 12.70% state that it is completely unimportant for them what type of mortgage they get.

Variable mortgages: better known but less attractive than hybrid mortgages

So why do they choose fixed mortgages despite their high interest rates? “The fixed mortgage is a very simple product to understand, much more so than the variable one,” says the Mortgages manager at iAhorro: Simone Colombelli, “Although Spaniards have more knowledge about variable mortgages than mixed mortgages, due to the current situation, variables are generally perceived as a more dangerous product, while mixed mortgages clearly receive support from banks as the most suitable ‘solution’ at the moment.”

So much so that among the total number of respondents surveyed by the mortgage comparator, While 42.90 percent say they know “a little” and 19.20 percent know “a lot” about fixed housing loans, 29.20 percent say they know “a little” and 8.70 percent say they know “nothing”. Although it is the most common among variable mortgages in our country, only 12.10% of the participants in the comparison agency’s survey say they know “a lot”, 43.20% say they have “some” knowledge, and 31.90% say they know. “Very few”, even the remaining 12.80% know “nothing” about such loans.

However, the data that surprises experts the most is the data on mixed mortgages: 69.20% of iAhorro’s survey respondents say they know “very little” (37.40%) or “nothing” (32%). However, hybrid mortgages appear as the second option in terms of contract, with 24.20% of the votes, ahead of the variable (12.80%). The remaining 12.70% say they do not care what type of mortgage they use.

So much so that, according to the latest data collected on the iAhorro Index, the total mortgages contracted by users of this mortgage comparator during October Almost 72% preferred mixed mortgages over fixed mortgages (20%) or variable mortgages (8% of total firms in the tenth month of the year).

Risk perception is increasing, but knowledge about mortgages is not

Simone Colombelli, Mortgage manager at iAhorro, says another of the survey’s most notable results is that “Spaniards are increasingly uninformed about mortgages, but they have a greater perception of the risks they carry. For example, Now when you search for information on variable mortgages, you quickly get overwhelming data. It registers Euribor and the user understands that signing this type of mortgage carries risks.”

to the question “How do you know if you need to get a mortgage?” The most preferred option by Spaniards is to request information from the “lifetime bank”, which collected 59.40 percent of the votes. In second place is “search on Google” with 18%, while “via mortgage comparator” and “search in media” are almost in third place with 8.20% and 8.10% of the total votes respectively. . Finally, Spanish citizens turn to “family or friends” for help (4.60%) or ask other types of questions (1.70%).

But “it happens when people really want information, when they have a problem, when they are affected by something. There are now many mortgage holders who simply go to their bank and get uncompetitive, fixed or hybrid mortgage loans with very high connections (payroll, home insurance, life insurance, investments and even the alarm on their home). iAhorro spokesperson Simone Colombelli concludes: “There is much to be improved, both in knowledge and in the pursuit of independent and valuable knowledge.”