Escaping the Mortgage Bottleneck: Proven Tactics to Keep Homeowners Afloat

I have yet to meet anyone who enjoys a jam. It is true that I have known those who face it with patience; There are also others who accept it without frustration, but so far, I have not found anyone who considers it a pleasant experience, especially if you are heading to the beach on a hot Sunday.

There are times when driving under a relentless sun, drawing in the harmful gases from exhaust pipes only silenced by insufferable horns, becomes a particularly unpleasant situation. I mean those episodes of total collapse: those traffic jams where the most painful thing is not seeing everything stopped around you, but witnessing how the rest moves forward while you remain motionless.

In those moments, when all you’re waiting for is for your cell phone signal to come back so you can get rid of the annoying morning radio show, a high-speed train appears rushing past your right, calm and cool. It takes its passengers to some spectacular beaches that you still don’t know about in a matter of minutes. Then you inevitably ask yourself, why you chose to get stuck in the traffic jam.

The scene faithfully reflects the current state of the Spanish mortgage system. Many of us are still stuck on that traditional highway that stopped being modern at the turn of the century when it comes to finding and contracting a mortgage, moving slowly between cumbersome procedures and tedious processes, without realizing that there are new alternatives that are much more agile and with a higher level of demand in the search for a competitive mortgage.

This train flies at the speed of light, as do its tickets, which are increasingly in demand among those who want a first class seat. While we continue to be trapped between cars, boxed in and unable to move forward, approximately 2 out of every 10 mortgaged travelers board a train that, cutting edge in technology, takes them directly to the door of their new home with the efficiency and peace of mind of having chosen well and among all the available options.

Many of us are still stuck on that traditional highway that stopped being modern at the turn of the century when it came to finding and taking out a mortgage.

In 2006, Spain signed 5,326 mortgages a day, managed by some 43,000 bank branches, each processing about 2.6 mortgages a month. Today, in 2024, 1,534 mortgages are signed daily and we have 18,000 branches, which means 1.8 mortgages per month per office. Despite the lower volume, this banking system is inelastic with relevant fixed costs, it remains inefficient and worrying because at times like the current one, when after the rate cut by the ECB, demand is accelerating and could anticipate a situation of collapse in the offices.

We remain anchored to a traditional model that no longer meets our needs. The process of obtaining a mortgage remains a bureaucratic tangle with complex coordination between multiple actors. We continue opting for the usual slow route, longer and more congested, knowing that we can choose the path that Google Maps proposes to us, faster and free of obstacles that will take us, at the speed of that train, to the house of our dreams. .

In other countries, they have modernized their mortgage “transportation network.” In the United Kingdom, banks delegate up to 80% of transactions to specialized prescribers, allowing greater efficiency and flexibility in the process. Germany and Italy have also adopted this model, managing 60% and 40% of mortgages through intermediaries, respectively. These prescribers act like those modern trains that transport more people efficiently and without delays, making the path to homeownership much more accessible and hassle-free.

In our country, more and more companies are moving up a gear. With advanced technology, companies like ours process thousands of mortgages per month, avoiding the high fixed costs and limitations of the rigidity of a traditional physical office network: the journey begins from home. This streamlines the process and offers customers a more transparent and comfortable experience. Advanced technology efficiently connects all the actors involved, eliminating unnecessary procedures and reducing time. More and more trains are leaving from different financial stations, who, without yet having the capacity to adapt their tracks to the high speed that the market demands, are adapting their technology with the support of APIs and the rest of the tools that companies such as Trioteca put at your disposal.

The world changes at the speed of our expectations. We want speed, clarity and frictionless processes, and we cannot continue to rely on a system that collapses at times of high demand. The integration of technological solutions in the sector is a necessary evolution that banks are already adapting quickly. Let’s not stay trapped, let’s get out of the jam. Let’s get on a train that already exists and that assures us a clear, concise and safe route.

*** Ricard Garriga is CEO and co-founder of Trioteca.