The European Central Bank (ECB) lowered reference interest rates to their historical minimum (zero or negative values, depending on the case) in 2016 and, as a consequence, the Euribor (which measures the interest at which banks lend each other the money) went negative in February of that year. This made variable-rate mortgages less profitable for entities: the sum of a negative Euribor plus the spread resulted in a very low rate. For this reason, they encouraged the contracting of fixed-rate mortgages, which had a higher interest rate. Last January, according to the latest data from the INE, 29.6% of mortgages were set up at a variable rate, with an average starting interest of 2.21%, while 70.4% were still at a fixed rate, with an interest of 2.69%.