Banco Sabadell's CEO, Marc Armengol, has warned of a significant slowdown in new mortgage applications. During the presentation of the third-quarter results for 2026, held on 29 October, the institution ruled out a collapse in outstanding balances for now, but warned that the residential market is suffering from a lack of supply and price pressure in key regions such as Catalonia.
What's Changing
This is not a legislative amendment in the Official State Gazette (BOE) or the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC), but rather a change in financial trend confirmed by one of the country's leading banks. Until now, the volume of formalised credit had been sustained by a compounding effect: buyers who had funds to pay in cash began to resort to mortgage loans to preserve liquidity. According to the institution, this buffer of demand is being depleted.
In its balance sheet for the third quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, Banco Sabadell recorded property lending of 40,716 million euros (a year-on-year increase of 3.5%) and a 5% growth in new production compared to the second quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, the mortgage delinquency ratio stood at 1.50%, below the 1.96% recorded in September 2025. Despite the strength of these metrics, the bank confirms that the pace of new applications is cooling down due to the loss of economic affordability for families.
Sources
Data and regulations consulted for this article.
