Euribor explodes, the consequences on loans in Portugal are tragic

&amp;NewLine;<p>Monthly repayments on mortgages in Portugal are set to rise again, not to say explode, on contracts due to be revised next month&amp;comma; with increases ranging from 65 euros to 300 euros&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>The rise in interest rates used to calculate housing payments continues unabated&amp;comma; the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Euribor reaching 14-year highs due to the restrictive policy of the European Central Bank &amp;lpar;ECB&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; which has once again raised the&amp;nbsp&amp;semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;eco&period;sapo&period;pt&sol;2023&sol;02&sol;27&sol;taxas-euribor-sobem-a-3-6-e-12-meses-para-novos-maximos-de-mais-de-14-anos&sol;">reference interest rate<&sol;a>&amp;nbsp&amp;semi;at the beginning of this month and is set to repeat the process in mid-March&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"wp-block-heading">Euribor soars; consequences for Portuguese loans tragic<&sol;h2>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>For those who are repaying their mortgage&amp;comma; and whose contract is at a variable rate&amp;comma; the ECB's tightening means a sharp squeeze on their budget&amp;comma; while families are already facing a drastic increase in the cost of living due to&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;inflation&amp;period;&amp;nbsp&amp;semi;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>In Portugal&amp;comma; more than 90&amp;percnt; of the 1&amp;comma;3 million contracts have a variable rate&amp;comma; it is they who are exposed to variations in the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Euribor&amp;period; Due to the ECB&amp;comma; the monthly average of the 12-month Euribor was negative a year ago and is now above 3&amp;comma;5 &amp;percnt;&amp;period; The six-month Euribor&amp;comma; most widely used in Portugal&amp;comma; has exceeded 3 &amp;percnt;&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Faced with soaring house payments&amp;comma; the government last year took steps to make it easier for families to renegotiate loans with banks as part of the &amp;lpar;PARI&amp;rpar;&amp;period; default risk action plan; Major financial institutions report&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;around 8,000 requests for contract restructuring&amp;comma; but warn that this number will rise as families begin to feel&amp;comma; more intensely&amp;comma; the impact of the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;acceleration in Euribor rates, which took place mainly in the second half of last year&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Euribor is calculated on the loans that the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com&sol;la-valeur-des-biens-immobilier-au-portugal&sol;" data-type&equals;"post" data-id&equals;"7360">banks<&sol;a> They have accelerated sharply in recent months, with the market following expectations of brutal tightening by the ECB to control spiraling prices&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;&amp;NewLine;<p>Since the summer, the ECB has already raised rates by 300 basis points, with the main rate rising from -0&amp;comma;5&amp;percnt; to 2&amp;comma;5&amp;percnt; in the space of seven months. The market is anticipating a further hike at the meeting scheduled for March 16, with an increase of 50 basis points&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;