Short-term market interest rates continued to decline in August, which boosted the popularity of Euribor-tied housing loans. At the same time, the popularity of banks' own reference rates has decreased since the start of the year. Of the new drawdowns of housing loans in August, 89% were tied to Euribor rates, compared to 81% at the start of the year. Of the new drawdowns of housing loans in August, 11% were tied to rates other than Euribor: 3% were tied to banks' own reference rates and 8% to fixed interest rates.
Loans
Households' new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.7 bn in August 2012, which is nearly as much as in August 2011. The average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns fell by 0.12 percentage point from July, to 1.84%. At end-August the stock of euro-denominated housing loans was EUR 85 bn and the average interest rate on the stock was 1.93%. The annual growth rate of the housing loan stock remained unchanged in August, at 6.3%. At end-August household credit comprised EUR 13 bn in consumer credit and EUR 15 bn in other loans.
New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted to EUR 1.5 bn in August, which is EUR 0.8 bn less than a year earlier. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns fell by 0.07 percentage point from July, to 2.04%. At end-August the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations was EUR 63 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 15 bn. The annual growth rate of the corporate loan stock fell slightly, to 7.4%, from 7.5% in July.
Deposits
At end-August the stock of household deposits amounted to EUR 83 bn. The average interest rate on the stock was 0.89% Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 45 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 23 bn of the total deposit stock. In August households concluded EUR 1.4 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity. The average interest rate on these fell to 1.42%, from 1.62% in July.
Notes:
MFIs comprise all monetary financial institutions operating in Finland.
Loans and deposits comprise all euro-denominated loans and deposits vis-à-vis the euro area as a whole, with countries other than Finland accounting for a very small share of total volumes.
Key figures of Finnish MFIs' loans and deposits, preliminary data
| June, EUR million |
July, EUR million |
EUR million |
August, 12-month change1, % |
Average interest rate, % | |
| Loans to households2, stock | 112.422 | 112.851 | 113.442 | 5.3 | 2.30 |
| - of which housing loans | 84.227 | 84.508 | 84.980 | 6.3 | 1.93 |
| Loans to non-financial corporations2, stock | 63.307 | 63.287 | 63.269 | 7.4 | 2.16 |
| Deposits by households2, stock | 83.497 | 82.921 | 82.556 | 2.5 |
0.89 |
| Households' new drawdowns of housing loans | 1.929 | 1.570 | 1.744 | – | 1.84 |
1 Rate of change has been calculated from monthly differences in levels adjusted for classification and other revaluation changes.
2 Households also include non-profit institutions serving households; non-financial corporations also include housing corporations.
- Euro-denominated deposits and loans of euro area residents: stock, 12 month rate of change and average interest rate
- Euro-denominated loans and deposits of Finnish households
- New business on loans and new drawdowns of household loans
- Finnish contribution to the euro area monetary aggregates and their main counterparts
- Analytical accounts of the banking sector (MFIs) in Finland
More information:
Jussi Pajunen, tel. +358 10 831 2343, email: jussi.pajunen(at)bof.fi
Essi Tamminen, tel. +358 10 831 2395, email: essi.tamminen(at)bof.fi.
The next news release will be published at 1 pm on 31 October 2012.