Around Europe people are talking about ways of improving secondary mortgage markets and enhancing mortgage products to regain lost confidence. For the past two years, and before anyone thought about the credit crunch, the Spanish legislator, several Spanish banking associations, financial institutions and other main market players were preparing drafts and comments to refine the Spanish mortgage market. The happy outcome was Law 41/2007, dated December 7 (the LRMH), amending the long-standing Law 2/1981 on the Spanish mortgage market, which is now effective and applicable. This piece of legislation deals with many issues in connection with the mortgage and real estate markets (transparency, consumer protection, appraisal companies, insurance companies, costs). But it especially focuses on new mortgage products and the incoming opportunities in refinancing, secondary mortgage markets, covered bonds, securitisation and structure finance.
The global mortgage market has changed in recent months and Spain has had knock-on effects....