Development on the mortgage market

2009-05-15 | Reports Bank

Finansinspektionen (FI) has surveyed the development in the banks’ lending for single-family houses and tenant-owner’s flats. At the end of 2008, Swedish households had approximately SEK 1,800 billion in mortgage loans. The investigated banks’ lending constitutes just under 90 per cent of this.

The following has occurred during 2008:

  • new lending for tenant-owner's flats has increased while in principle it has been unchanged compared with 2007 for single-family houses
  • loan-to-value ratios for tenant-owner's flats have increased for both new lending as well as in the entire portfolio
  • loan-to-value ratios for single-family houses have remained constant for new lending, while the loan-to-value ratios for single-family houses in the entire portfolio have declined somewhat
  • the amortization periods have been shortened sharply.

The mortgage market is not assessed to constitute a risk for the banks or the financial stability. However, there are certain risks that individual borrowers will not be able to pay their mortgages in the future due to increased unemployment.