Fixed, mixed or variable rate in Portugal
For home loans in Portugal only — offers from Portuguese banks, under Portuguese taxes and fees. The banks’ documents will still be in Portuguese; this page explains them in English.
A variable rate (taxa variável) is Euribor plus the bank’s spread, reset every 3, 6 or 12 months; a fixed rate (taxa fixa) stays the same for the whole term; a mixed rate (taxa mista) is fixed for the first years and variable afterwards. In Portugal the mixed rate has become the norm — 87% of new contracts in August 2026, according to the Banco de Portugal. The choice is between paying a little more for certainty or letting the payment move with Euribor; on a mixed rate, compare both the fixed rate and the spread that follows it.
Updated
Variable rate
The rate is the Euribor of the chosen tenor plus the bank’s spread. Six-month Euribor stood at 3.103% on 29 September 2026. The payment is recalculated at every reset: it rises when Euribor rises and falls when it falls. Euribor was negative from 2015 to 2022, and above 4% in 2023.
It carries the lowest early repayment fee, capped by law at 0.5%, which makes it the easiest to pay down or move to another bank.
Fixed rate
The same rate from the first month to the last. You always know what you will pay, and Euribor stops mattering. In exchange the starting rate is usually higher, and the early repayment fee can be up to 2%. Rates fixed for the whole term are uncommon in Portugal.
Mixed rate
Fixed for an initial period — typically 2 to 10 years; the median on new contracts is 2 years — then variable, at the spread in the contract. The average rate on new mixed-rate loans was 2.86% in August 2026, against 3.23% on variable.
A mixed rate has two numbers to compare: the fixed rate, during the fixed period, and the spread that applies once it ends. A low fixed rate for two years with a high spread for the next 38 can be expensive. During the fixed period, the early repayment fee is the fixed-rate one.
How to choose
- Stress-test it: what would the payment be with Euribor 2 percentage points higher? If that squeezes your budget, prefer more years fixed.
- Think about your horizon: if you expect to sell or prepay early, the variable rate’s lower fee matters more.
- On a mixed rate, compare offers by the cost over the fixed period and by the spread after it — not by the first year’s rate.
- Check the index tenor: a variable rate on 12-month Euribor and one on 6-month do not compare at a single Euribor figure.
The bank does a similar sum: the Banco de Portugal recommends measuring the debt-to-income ratio with the rate raised by 1.5 percentage points on terms over 10 years.
Comparing fixed, mixed and variable side by side
qualcredito.com prices offers of different types on the same scenario, shows the Euribor at which the cheapest offer changes hands, and what each one costs if Euribor rises or falls.