No passado dia 16 de outubro de 2023 entrou em vigor o alívio do stress test usado pelos bancos para a conceção de Créditos Habitação, por indicação do Banco de Portugal.
To cope with high interest rates, o valor usado para simular a taxa de esforço dos portugueses passou de 3% para 1,5% in order to facilitate access to credit for property acquisition, as this change leaves the interest rate at around 5.5% (4% of Euribor + the 1.5% of the simulation) and not the 7% previously used .
Besides, this measure also guaranteed a higher percentage of financing, since previously it was only possible to obtain a maximum of 70% of the value of the house and now it's possible to obtain financing at 80% or even 90%.
A measure that inevitably reduces the effort rate of potential buyers and increases the percentage of financing, but did it have that much of an impact?
When it was approved, several banking entities considered this measure positive for the Portuguese people as it would facilitate the House Loan approval process, but the truth is that not that much has changed.
Idealista reveals that the measurehad a very low impact in the last quarter of the year, with regard to loans for the purchase of the first home. Analyzing the House Loans contracted during this period we see that credit transfers occupy the largest slice of the pie at 38%, while House Loans for purchasing the first home stood at 35.5%.
Data that reveals that This relief may have led to an increase in demand for new credits, but this was not concluded. On the other hand, the measure may have had some impact on credit transfers by allowing better conditions with other banks for those who sought to improve their credit conditions.