These statistics provide information on the creation of mortgages, in other words, the number of new mortgages that are created on properties during the reference month and the amount of the new loans corresponding to the aforementioned mortgages. From 2006 onwards, information on changes and cancellations made to the mortgage registers will be published. The breakdown of all this information is based on a number of variables, such as the estate mortgaged and the moneylender.

All registered information on the creation of mortgages and the changes and cancellations made to them is taken from information contained in the Land Registers for the whole national territory. The Association of Land and Mercantile Registrars of Spain provides the INE with this centralised information via their computerised Information Systems Service in accordance with a collaboration agreement signed by the two institutions in 2004. To enable comparisons, data corresponding to 2003 are presented in relation to both the previous and the new bases