A stable, well-functioning financial market for allA stable, well-functioning financial market for allThe Swedish Mortgage Market (2016)
The average debt-to-income ratio for households with new mortgages increased from 387 per cent to 406 per cent between 2014 and 2015, according to FI:s report.
This means that households in general are borrowing more in relation to their income, which most likely is largely due to house prices rising faster than household income. At the same time, the average loan-to-value ratio has decreased slightly. It is currently around 65 per cent, which is approximately one percentage point lower than in 2014. This means that the households on average are borrowing somewhat less in relation to the value of the home than they did before.
Even though households are borrowing more in relation to their income, in general they have sufficient margins for making their payments. FI's stress tests show that few households with new mortgages would experience problems repaying their loans if interest rates were to rise or if their income were to decrease. In recent years the share of households with smaller margins has also become smaller.
Since 2011 it has become more common to amortise. In 2015, 67 per cent of all households with new loans amortised them, which is a clear increase from 2011, when the corresponding figure was only 44 per cent. FI's proposed amortisation requirement, which encompasses households with new loans and loan-to-value ratios above 50 per cent, will increase the number of households that amortise further.
