This striking development, which is not visible in the current advertised mortgage rates and therefore is not related to an expected future rate decline, is caused by a composition effect. Under certain conditions, customers can transfer the interest conditions of their existing mortgage when moving to another house. For mortgages with a fixed‑interest period longer than 10 years, a relatively large share of newly registered loans consists of these transferred interest rates, which are often lower than current market rates. As a result, the average contract rate in this category is lower. For shorter fixed‑interest periods, the rate has more often already been revised and is therefore closer to the current market rate. In recent years, borrowers have also chosen far less frequently for fixed‑interest periods longer than 10 years when taking out a new mortgage, which makes the effect of transferred interest conditions much more visible in the average contract rate in this category.