In the month of July, lowest home loan rates were to be found in Nantes – more than a full percentage point lower than current lowest rates in Ireland
According to credit broker Meilleurtaux, it is in the City of the Dukes that home loan lenders can, under certain conditions pertaining to each individual case, obtain rates as low as 2.4% over 20 years: 0.25% lower compared to June. Over the same lending period, the lowest rates were 2.45% in Toulouse and Strasbourg and 2.55% in Marseilles and Lille. The average rates were found within a very narrow range from 2.87% in Toulouse and Bordeaus to 2.99% in Nantes and Rennes – still significantly lower than current lowest in Ireland (3.48% at time of writing).
“From month to month, rates are getting lower and there’s no sign of an end to this trend at the moment, or even less of a possibility of rates going the other way,” said Maël Bernier, spokeswoman for Meilleurtaux.
While the lowering of rates is obvious on most lending terms, the tendency is more marked on the 25-year term.
“This is a term that several of the larger banks had stopped lending on for the last two or three years,” added Ms Bernier. On average, home loan rates over 25 years are generally between 3.25% and 3.3% but particularly bank-friendly applications can get up to 0.5% of a discount.