CaixaBank's CEO expects mortgage credit to grow less in 2027 due to housing prices and rising rates. The market anticipates up to four ECB rate hikes bringing rates to 3.5%.
The CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar, has anticipated that the bank's mortgage credit will grow less next year. The reason is the rising cost of housing and the increase in interest rates from the European Central Bank (ECB), as he explained at the Encuentro Financiero XVII forum, organized by KPMG and the newspaper Expansión, in information reported by catalunyapress.es.
The market discounts up to four additional ECB rate hikes, which would bring rates to 3.5%. With this scenario, Gortázar has warned that access to housing is becoming more complicated.
"I believe we are approaching an affordability problem and the fact that current interest rates and long-term rates are higher also influences this"
Regarding the evolution of mortgage credit, the executive noted that "we will see a slowdown in growth because there are many people who would like to buy a house, but unfortunately they cannot reach the current prices."
In contrast, consumption and financing for companies support the increase in credit granted by the group. Consumer credit is growing by between 11% and 12% year-on-year. Gortázar estimates that the ratio will remain above 10% in the coming months, although it may moderate somewhat next year, and he sees long-term growth potential.
Business credit has performed "better than expected", above the evolution of rates, despite uncertainty. The banker mentioned risks focused on Iran, the market, and artificial intelligence, and argued that entrepreneurs "must continue to invest and move forward" because he sees reasonable investment demand accompanying nominal GDP growth.
Regarding artificial intelligence, Gortázar explained that it is already yielding results in the bank's operations. "As an employee, AI is an extraordinary support for consulting information, extracting it, managing it, and offering it to a client in a way that is easy and meets their needs," he said.
In some tasks, it allows saving up to two hours a week, although the executive clarified that "it is not transforming the entity, it is just adding a bit more productivity." Looking to the future, he anticipates that AI will allow maintaining current growth rates without adding people in the same proportion and reducing outsourced processes, which may impact employment and leave some positions vacant.
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