Mortgage interest rates fall for ten weeks in a row

Fixed mortgage interest rates have fallen for ten weeks in a row since the end of October. The speed of the current decline says quite a bit about the level of competition in the mortgage market, especially compared to, for example, savings account interest rates, said De Hypotheekshop.

The biggest interest rate reduction since October has been with five-year fixed rate mortgages where the buyer can take advantage of the National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG). These mortgage rates have fallen by 0.7 percentage points.

But the decline in mortgage interest rates fixed for 30 years, also with the NHG, is now approaching half a percentage point. The main mortgage rate of ten years fixed with NHG has shown the most significant ten-week decline since the organization began keeping records in 2004.

The most competitive mortgage rates for five, ten, and twenty years with NHG are now below 4 percent again. De Hypotheekshop said it is only a matter of time before thirty years with NHG breaks that barrier.

According to De Hypotheekshop, whether the decline will continue in the coming weeks depends on the development of interest rates on the capital market, which determines the mid-term and long-term mortgage interest rates. The organization does expect a decline in capital market interest rates by 2024.

The development of short-term mortgage interest rates, which are especially important for people moving homes, depends more directly on the interest rate policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). De Hypotheekshop expects the ECB to keep interest rates unchanged for the foreseeable future.

Over the course of 2024, the ECB is expected to gradually lower interest rates to prevent the economy from entering a prolonged recession.