Three-month Euribor falls to new one-year low and remains below 2.5%

Euribor rates fell today at three, six and 12 months, the shortest term to a new low since February 1, 2023, and remained below 2.5% in all three terms.

With today's changes, the three-month rate, which fell to 2.499%, below 2.5% for the first time in more than a year, remained above the six-month rate (2.389%) and the 12-month rate (2.400%).

The six-month Euribor rate, which in January 2024 became the most widely used in Portugal for variable-rate housing loans, fell today for the sixth consecutive session to a new low in more than two years.

The six-month Euribor fell to 2.389%, 0.018 points less than on Tuesday and a new low since November 25, 2022.

Data from the Bank of Portugal (BdP) for December indicate that the six-month Euribor represented 37.64% of the stock of loans for permanent homeownership with variable rates. The same data indicate that the 12-month and three-month Euribor represented 32.69% and 25.6%, respectively.

In the 12-month period, the Euribor rate also fell today, to 2.400%, minus 0.017 points.

In the same sense, the three-month Euribor fell today, being set at 2.499%, a minimum since February 1, 2023 and 0.031 points less than on Tuesday.

The three-month Euribor rate is used to calculate the base rate for Savings Certificates, which is determined monthly on the penultimate business day of each month, to be in force during the following month, and which cannot be higher than 2.50% or lower than 0%.

The gross interest rate for new subscriptions of Savings Certificates, Series F, was set at 2.500% in January 2025.

In monthly terms, the Euribor average in January fell again at three and six months, but rose at 12 months, for the first time after nine months of falling.

While the 12-month Euribor average rose 0.089 points to 2.525% in January, the three- and six-month averages continued to fall, namely to 2.704%, 0.121 percentage points less than in December, and to 2.614%, 0.018 points less.

At the monetary policy meeting on 30 January, as anticipated by the markets, the ECB lowered its main policy rate by 25 basis points again for the fourth consecutive meeting.

The ECB's next monetary policy meeting will take place on 5 and 6 March in Frankfurt.

Euribor is set by the average of the rates at which a group of 19 eurozone banks are willing to lend money to each other on the interbank market.