They wanted a fixed-rate mortgage. We recommended a mixed-rate mortgage. And here’s why.
9 September, 2026 | Antonio Beltrán
The client was quite clear about what she wanted.
A fixed-rate mortgage.
30 years.
A predictable monthly payment.
And no need to worry about Euribor.
Perfectly understandable.
When someone tells me they want a fixed-rate mortgage, there is usually one reason behind it:
peace of mind.
They don’t want surprises.
They don’t want to keep checking Euribor.
They want to know what they’ll pay.
The problem comes when we stop talking about feelings and start looking at the numbers.
In this case, the client was buying a property for €428,000.
We needed a €342,000 mortgage over 30 years.
In other words, we were financing approximately 80% of the purchase price.
We had two options.
Option 1: fixed-rate mortgage
2.45% fixed for the entire term.
Option 2: mixed-rate mortgage
1.90% fixed for the first 10 years.
Then:
Euribor + 0.70%.
The client initially preferred the first option.
We recommended seriously considering the second.
Not because we know where Euribor will be ten years from now.
Precisely because we don’t.
Let’s look at the first 10 years
At 2.45% fixed, the monthly payment is approximately:
€1,342
At 1.90%, the mixed mortgage payment is approximately:
€1,247
Around €95 less every month.
But that’s not the most important part.
On the first fixed-rate payment:
€698 is interest.
€644 repays principal.
With the mixed mortgage:
€542 is interest.
€706 repays principal.
So:
We pay a lower monthly instalment and reduce the debt faster at the same time.
Fixed vs. mixed: the numbers after 10 years
€17,115 less interest over the first 10 years.
Approximately €11,445 less will have come out of our pocket in monthly payments, while we will have repaid approximately €5,670 more principal.
And then comes the obvious question.
“What happens after the first 10 years?”
This is what worries people about mixed mortgages.
Year 11 arrives.
The 1.90% ends.
And people assume they’re stuck with whatever rate the bank gives them for another twenty years.
But they’re forgetting something.
A 30-year mortgage doesn’t mean you have to stay with the same bank or the same conditions for 30 years.
We can renegotiate.
Look at other lenders.
Transfer the mortgage.
Or switch back to a fixed rate.
What if Euribor is high in 10 years?
We don’t know where Euribor will be in 2036.
But suppose it were around 2.95%.
Our mortgage would move to approximately:
2.95% + 0.70% = 3.65%
Someone might say:
“There you go. That’s the catch with a mixed mortgage.”
Not so fast.
For that supposed “catch” simply to happen to us, we’d have to do one thing:
Absolutely nothing.
Let’s look at Euribor’s history
Euribor has been above 5%.
Around 4%.
Around 1%.
And even below zero.
The chart doesn’t tell us Euribor will fall.
It tells us something more useful:
Euribor doesn’t stay in the same place for 30 years.
Rates change.
Markets change.
Banks change.
Mortgage offers change.
But something else will have changed too: our debt
Today the property costs:
€428,000
And we’re borrowing:
€342,000
That’s approximately:
80% of the purchase price.
After ten years on the 1.90% mixed mortgage, however, we’ll owe approximately:
€248,835
We’ll have repaid more than:
€93,000 of principal.
Now look at what happens if we simply use the original €428,000 purchase price as a reference.
We don’t even need to assume that the property has increased in value.
Our remaining €248,835 debt would represent approximately:
58% of the original purchase price.
We’ve moved from borrowing around 80% of the purchase price to having debt equivalent to approximately 58% of what we originally paid.
And that changes the conversation with a bank considerably.
For a bank, 80% isn’t the same as approximately 58%
This brings us to LTV — Loan to Value.
It’s the relationship between the outstanding mortgage and the value of the property.
Generally, the lower the debt compared with the property’s value, the lower the risk for the lender.
Of course, to calculate the actual LTV in 2036 we’d need to know the property’s value or valuation at that time.
So 58% isn’t a prediction of the future LTV.
It’s simply a useful comparison:
€248,835 is approximately 58% of the original €428,000 purchase price.
And if the property has increased in value over those ten years, our position could be even stronger.
So 2036 arrives. What do we do?
We have approximately €249,000 outstanding.
OPTION 1
Euribor + 0.70% remains competitive.
We stay.
OPTION 2
Our bank offers an attractive fixed rate.
We negotiate.
OPTION 3
Another lender offers better terms.
We consider transferring the mortgage.
OPTION 4
Changing lenders costs more than we’ll save.
We do nothing.
That’s mortgage advice.
Not trying to guess Euribor ten years in advance.
The whole transaction in a few numbers
TODAY — 2026
Purchase price: €428,000
Mortgage: €342,000
Financing: ≈ 80%
↓
NEXT 10 YEARS
1.90% fixed
≈ €1,247/month
↓
COMPARED WITH 2.45% FIXED
≈ €17,115 LESS INTEREST
↓
YEAR 2036
≈ €248,835 outstanding
More than €93,000 of principal repaid
Equivalent to approximately 58% of the original purchase price
↓
WE DECIDE AGAIN
Stay · Negotiate · Change lender · Switch back to fixed
A mortgage isn’t a marriage
People sign a mortgage and then behave as though its conditions must stay with them for the next 30 years.
They don’t.
A mortgage is financing.
And financing can be reviewed.
Markets change.
Banks change.
Interest rates change.
And our circumstances change.
Ten years from now, we’ll owe considerably less.
Our income may have changed.
The property may be worth more.
And we’ll run the numbers again.
So why did we recommend a mixed mortgage when she wanted a fixed one?
Not because we think Euribor will fall.
Not because we know what will happen in 2036.
And not because mixed mortgages are always better.
They’re not.
We recommended it because the numbers make sense for this particular transaction.
Ten years at:
1.90% fixed
Instead of:
2.45% fixed
Approximately:
€17,115 less interest.
And after ten years:
€248,835 outstanding.
Then we’ll look at the market again.
We’ll negotiate.
We’ll compare.
And we’ll decide.
We don’t need to decide today what we’re going to do in 2036.
The client came to us looking for a fixed-rate mortgage.
We ended up recommending a mixed one.
And the reason can be summed up in one sentence:
A 30-year mortgage doesn’t mean you have to make every decision about the next 30 years today.
Note: Calculations are approximate and relate to this specific transaction. Whether a fixed, mixed or variable mortgage is appropriate depends on each client’s individual circumstances. Past Euribor performance does not guarantee future performance.