Households continue to be under pressure from both higher interest rates and other costs. This is evident in FI’s mortgage report. The report looks at new mortgagors during the autumn of 2023. We can see that there are fewer mortgagors than in previous years. Home buyers also bought slightly less expensive homes and borrowed slightly less. Total lending to households has stagnated, but despite this household indebtedness continues to be high.
Mortgagors are under pressure from rising interest rates. At the same time, the majority of new mortgagors continue to have good margins in their personal finances. These are the conclusions drawn by Finansinspektionen in this year’s Swedish Mortgage Market report, which is being presented today.
Swedish households continue to take increasingly larger loans. More new mortgagors than in previous years had both a high loan-to-income ratio and a high loan-to-value ratio. Higher inflation and rising interest rates mean that mortgagors have smaller margins in their personal finances. This decreases the consumption capacity at the same time as the mortgagors’ ability to repay their loan is impaired.
New borrowers continue to take larger mortgages in relation to their income and the value of their home. At the same time, they have good margins for servicing their loans under weaker economic conditions.
The percentage of new mortgagors with a high level of debt in relation to either their income or the value of the home continues to be high. New mortgagors in 2019 increased their average loan-to-income ratio. The average loan-to-value ratio also increased in 2019 among new mortgagors, thus breaking the trend of falling loan-to-value ratios since 2013.
High debt can mean risks for individual households, banks, financial stability and macroeconomic development. The mortgage survey serves as an important basis for the assessment of the risks associated with household debt.
Finansinspektionen (FI) follows the development of household debt on an ongoing basis. The mortgage survey serves as an important source of data for this work. High debt can mean risks for individual households, banks, financial stability and the macroeconomic devel-opment.
Household debt is a crucial matter which FI monitors closely, and the mortgage survey is an important part of this work. Household debt has increased sharply in recent years. During the same period, mortgage rates have fallen and are now at historically low levels, and house prices have also risen rapidly. Finansinspektionen (FI) judges there to be an elevated risk that house prices will fall compared to a normal state, and it is more likely that interest rates will rise than that they will fall.
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.
Finansinspektionen monitors the mortgage market and household indebtedness closely, and the mortgage survey is an important part of that process. The survey for 2014 shows that the average loan-to-value ratio and debt-to-income ratio was unchanged between 2013 and 2014, despite rapidly increasing house prices.