Banco de Portugal April Tape Lifts New Mortgage Rates to 2.86% in the First 2026 Climb — Variable Trackers Add 14 Basis Points and the Average Monthly Stock Payment Hits €428

The average interest rate on new home loans in Portugal rose 5 basis points in April to 2.86%, the highest level since July 2025 and the first increase recorded in 2026, according to the Banco de Portugal (Bank of Portugal) statistical release published on Friday 5 June 2026. The pivot ends a four-month easing run and lands as the European Central Bank Governing Council was widely expected to hold rates steady at its 5 June meeting.

The rebound is uneven across product types. Variable-rate contracts — the segment most exposed to Euribor moves — jumped 14 basis points to 2.96%. Mixed-rate products, which carry an initial fixed period before reverting to variable and now account for 85% of new originations, ticked up just 3 basis points to 2.74%. Renegotiated contracts moved least, by 1 basis point to 2.80%. The blended figure across all new operations also climbed to 2.86%, from 2.81% in March.

Volume tells a separate story. New mortgage origination dropped €203 million month-on-month to €2,053 million, and renegotiations fell a further €131 million. Total household credit — habitação plus consumer — came in at €3,695 million, down €473 million from March. The composition suggests households leaning on existing rate structures rather than refinancing into the slightly higher new-business band.

The stock side is moving in the opposite direction to the new-business side. The average monthly mortgage payment across all outstanding loans rose €3 to €428, marking the eighth consecutive monthly increase. With most variable-rate contracts still anchored to Euribor 6M and 12M, the modest tick in the headline new-business rate masks a slower-burn budget hit for the majority of borrowers already on the books.

European comparators keep Portugal cheap. The euro area average for new mortgage operations rose 8 basis points in April to 3.43%, more than half a point above the Portuguese figure. That leaves Portugal the fourth-lowest mortgage market in the bloc on the most recent ECB-aligned dataset.

The deposit side delivered a second headline. Remuneration on new fixed-term deposits for households rose 0.02 percentage points to 1.44% in April — the third consecutive monthly increase and a level last seen in the back half of 2025. Corporate deposits jumped further, by 0.04 percentage points, to 1.83%. New deposit operations across the system hit €13,398 million, a fresh historical high in the Banco de Portugal series.

For households shopping the housing market in the second half of 2026, the read is that the easy-money trajectory of the spring has, at minimum, paused. Brokers should expect mixed-rate products to remain the dominant origination format while variable trackers reset to the higher end of the post-Euribor curve. For savers, the deposit step-up — modest by ECB-cycle standards — finally moves the income side of the household balance sheet in the right direction after the long disinflation drag.