On Thursday morning (27), inside the tall cylindrical concrete tower that houses the headquarters of Caixa Econômica Federal in Brasília, the state-owned bank's executives had one message to deliver alongside the second-quarter numbers: the expansion of mortgage lending will continue. The statement, reported by UOL, comes after the housing loan portfolio of Brazil's largest mortgage lender passed the R$ 1 trillion mark, in a quarter that brought a recurring net profit of R$ 3.9 billion.
The results were released on Wednesday (26) and discussed on Thursday by Caixa's vice-president of Housing, Inês Magalhães. According to Agência Brasil, profit rose 5.9% compared with the same period of 2025 and 12.4% against the first quarter of this year. In the first half, however, recurring profit totaled R$ 7.4 billion, down 17.6% over 12 months.
Mortgages account for nearly 70% of the loan book
Mortgage lending remains the bank's core business. The portfolio balance reached R$ 1.005 trillion in June, up 15% in one year, and represents 69.4% of the total loan book, which hit R$ 1.448 trillion, a gain of 11.9% over 12 months. From April to June, new housing finance contracts totaled R$ 137.6 billion, up 29.3% year on year, and Caixa kept its market leadership with a share of about 68%.
The growth came with warning signs. Defaults above 90 days rose from 2.66% to 3.64% in one year, driven by agribusiness, where the rate jumped from 7.02% to 20.74%. In the mortgage portfolio, delinquency stood at 1.45%, well below other segments. Facing higher risk, the bank raised credit loss provisions to R$ 6.97 billion in the quarter, up 97.6% in one year, while return on equity fell 2.7 percentage points, to 9.16%.
The challenge of the 12% cap
Commenting on the figures, Inês Magalhães acknowledged that the new interest rate cap on housing credit is squeezing the bank. Under the new model of the SBPE, Brazil's savings-and-loan system, announced in late 2025 and phased in until full enforcement in January 2027, rates on loans under the regulated housing finance system (SFH) must not exceed 12% per year until January. The problem, she said, is the Selic benchmark rate at 14% per year: the bank pays the benchmark to raise money in the market and lends it out at 12%.
"We are going through a very difficult moment, the 12% cap is challenging," the executive said, according to Folha de S.Paulo. "Now, we must remember that the SBPE is funded by savings deposits, and that is a subsidy."
The new model aims to reduce the system's historical dependence on savings accounts, which have been losing funds to better-paying investments such as bank deposit certificates and government bonds, and allows banks to raise money directly in the capital markets through instruments like LCIs (real estate credit notes). Back at the concrete tower in Brasília, the message left on Thursday was a direct one: even with high interest rates and rising provisions, the state bank that finances most of the country's homes plans to keep expanding its mortgage lending.