A Latvian Household Pays More Than Twice the Maltese Rate on the Same Euro Mortgage
Silver Data Lab Research Desk · Statistical analysis · Published on 04 August 2026
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- Data source
- European Central Bank
- Reference period
- June 2026
- Last updated
- 31 August 2026
Key estimates
- A household taking out a new mortgage pays 4.29% in Latvia and 1.95% in Malta — 234 basis points apart, or 2.2 times the price.
- The euro area average is 3.48%. Ten of the twenty-one countries sit above it and eleven below.
- Germany, the largest economy, is the fourth most expensive at 3.95%.
- Maltese mortgage rates are 7 basis points below their June 2021 level, after a tightening cycle that raised the euro area average by 218 basis points.
- German rates rose 266 basis points over the same period, the largest increase of any euro-area country except Slovakia.
- The gap between the most and least expensive country reached 401 basis points in September 2023, when ECB rates peaked.
Two households, two prices, one currency
In June 2026 a household borrowing to buy a home paid 4.29% in Latvia and 1.95% in Malta. The Latvian household pays 2.2 times the Maltese rate for the same product, denominated in the same currency, in a union with a single central bank.
The euro area average is 3.48%, and the distribution around it is 234 basis points wide.
Malta did not participate in the tightening
Between June 2021 and June 2026 the ECB raised its deposit rate from −0.50% to a peak of 4.00% before easing to 2.25%. Euro-area mortgage rates rose 218 basis points on average across that period.
Maltese mortgage rates fell 7 basis points.
The Maltese figure was 2.02% in June 2021, 1.93% at the September 2023 peak in ECB rates, and 1.95% today. Through the sharpest tightening cycle in the currency's history, the price of a Maltese mortgage ended less than a tenth of a percentage point from where it began.
Bulgaria is the only other country lower than it was, at 67 basis points below its 2021 level — but Bulgaria spent most of that period outside the euro, joining on 1 January 2026, so its rates were not set under ECB policy for most of the comparison.
The largest economy is among the most expensive
Germany records 3.95%, the fourth highest rate in the euro area, behind only Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. German rates rose 266 basis points from their 2021 level, more than any other country except Slovakia.
This is the opposite of what the same countries look like in business lending. On loans to companies, Germany, France, Italy and Spain all sit within 30 basis points of the euro area average, as the companion study on this site records. On mortgages they are spread across 106 basis points: Germany 3.95%, Italy 3.49%, France 3.16%, Spain 2.89%.
Household credit is priced far less uniformly across the union than corporate credit is.
The gap is wide, and it has been wider
At the September 2023 peak the distance between the most and least expensive country was 401 basis points, with Estonia at 5.94% and Malta at 1.93%. In December 2021, before the cycle began, it was 191 among the countries then in the euro area.
The dispersion is therefore not a residue of the tightening: it existed before, widened sharply during, and remains at 234 basis points now that policy has eased.
What this measures
The rate on new house purchase loans agreed in the reference month, as reported by banks to the ECB. It does not measure what existing borrowers pay, and it does not distinguish between fixed and variable-rate lending — a country whose mortgages are predominantly fixed will show current rates responding slowly to policy changes, while a variable-rate market transmits them almost immediately.
That distinction plausibly explains part of the pattern above. This data cannot confirm it, and no causal claim is made here.
Interest rate on new mortgages, June 2026
| Country | % per annum | Gap to Euro areapercentage points, derived |
|---|---|---|
| Latvia | 4.29 | +0.8 |
| Estonia | 4.14 | +0.7 |
| Lithuania | 4.04 | +0.6 |
| Euro areaaggregate | 3.48 | — |
| Spain | 2.89 | −0.6 |
| Bulgaria | 2.41 | −1.1 |
| Malta | 1.95 | −1.5 |
What these figures cannot tell you
- Fixed and variable lending are not separated
- The series covers all new house purchase loans regardless of rate fixation. Countries where fixed-rate mortgages dominate transmit policy changes to new lending differently from variable-rate markets, and this figure does not distinguish them.
- New lending only
- The rate applies to mortgages agreed in the reference month. It says nothing about the much larger stock of existing mortgages, where the rate paid may have been set years earlier.
- Bulgaria's comparison period straddles euro entry
- Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026. Its rates before that date were set under its own currency board arrangement rather than ECB policy, so its change since 2021 is not comparable with that of long-standing members.
- The average is volume-weighted
- The euro area figure of 3.48% weights each country by lending volume and is therefore dominated by the largest mortgage markets. It is not the average of the twenty-one national rates.
- Prices, not causes
- The data records rates charged. Rate fixation practice, bank concentration, credit risk, property collateral values and household indebtedness may all contribute, and this series cannot separate them.
Frequently asked questions
- Where are mortgages cheapest in the euro area?
- Malta, at 1.95% on new house purchase loans in June 2026, followed by Bulgaria at 2.41% and Spain at 2.89%. The most expensive is Latvia at 4.29%.
- Why do mortgage rates differ so much between euro-area countries?
- The ECB sets one policy rate, but banks price mortgages nationally. Rate fixation practice, bank concentration, credit risk and collateral values plausibly all contribute. This study records the 234 basis point spread rather than attributing it to any single cause.
- How much did mortgage rates rise during the ECB tightening cycle?
- The euro area average rose 218 basis points between June 2021 and June 2026. Individual countries ranged from Slovakia at 268 and Germany at 266 to Malta, where rates ended 7 basis points lower than they started — and Bulgaria lower still, though it spent most of the period outside the euro.
- Are German mortgages expensive?
- By euro-area standards, yes. Germany records 3.95%, the fourth highest rate of the twenty-one countries, and its increase of 266 basis points since 2021 is the second largest in the union.
- Is this the rate existing borrowers pay?
- No. The series covers mortgages agreed in the reference month. Existing borrowers pay the rate set when their loan was agreed, which in fixed-rate markets can differ substantially from current conditions.
Methodological note
The ECB publishes MFI interest rate statistics through the ECB Data Portal. This study uses the rate on new loans to households for house purchase, excluding revolving loans and overdrafts, all maturities and all loan sizes, as published, for June 2026 — the most recent month available at extraction. All twenty-one euro-area countries report a value.
The 234 basis point spread, the 2.2 ratio between Latvia and Malta, the counts above and below the average, the changes since June 2021, and the spreads for December 2021 and September 2023 are derived by Silver Data Lab from the published series. The euro area aggregate is the published figure, not a computed one.
ECB policy rates quoted for context come from the key interest rates study on this site, and the business lending comparison from the euro-area business lending rates study, both drawing on their own declared extractions.
Source data
The underlying series can be inspected and re-downloaded from the ECB Data Portal. The filters below are the ones applied.
MFI interest rates on new loans to households for house purchase
MIR/M..B.A2C.A.R.A.2250.EUR.N
- Filters applied:
- freq=M · ref_area=all euro-area countries and U2 aggregate · bs_rep_sector=B · bs_item=A2C (lending for house purchase excluding revolving loans and overdrafts) · maturity=A (total) · data_type_mir=R (annualised agreed rate) · amount_cat=A (total) · bs_count_sector=2250 (households) · currency=EUR · ir_bus_cov=N (new business)
- Extracted:
- 2026-08-14
- Source last updated:
- 2026-06-01
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