In October 2019, the stock of housing loans granted by credit institutions increased to almost EUR 100 bn (EUR 99.95 bn). The growth rate of the housing loan stock has picked up since early 2019. In October it was 2.4%, and a higher growth rate has last been recorded in September 2016. Growth in the stock of housing loans in October was fuelled by new housing loans and the high volume of their drawdowns.
New housing loan drawdowns in October 2019 amounted to EUR 1.9 bn, up by EUR 145 million on the corresponding period a year earlier. The last time housing loan drawdowns in October have exceeded this level was in 2007. The decline in the average interest rate on new housing loans has halted since the summer, and during the past three months the average rate has been 0.72%.
Recent years have seen a lengthening in the average amortisation periods of housing loans in Finland. In October 2019, the average maturity of a housing loan was 20 years 9 months. Over 68% of new housing loans were granted with a maturity of over 20 years. The share of loans with longer amortisation periods (over 29 years) in new housing loans has increased: in October 2019, the share was 7%, compared with 3% in October 2018.
Loans
At the end of October, household credit comprised EUR 16.5 bn in consumer credit and EUR 17.6 bn in other loans. New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted to EUR 2.2 bn in October. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns declined from September, to 2.21%. At the end of October, the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations was EUR 90.6 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 34.6 bn.
Deposits
The stock of deposits by Finnish households at end-October totalled EUR 94.4 bn and the average interest rate on the deposits was 0.11%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 81.5 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 4.9 bn of the deposit stock. In October, households concluded EUR 0.4 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity, at an average interest rate of 0.12%.
Key figures of Finnish MFIs' loans and deposits, preliminary data
| August, EUR million | September, EUR million | October, EUR million | October, 12-month change1, % | Average interest rate, % | |
| Loans to households2, stock | 133,285 | 133,616 | 134,019 | 2,7 | 1,45 |
| - of which housing loans | 99,399 | 99,631 | 99,950 | 2,5 | 0,91 |
| Loans to non-financial corporations2, stock | 88,883 | 89,582 | 90,558 | 7,3 | 1,34 |
| Deposits by households2, stock | 98,370 | 98,561 | 98,733 | 8,6 | 0,11 |
| Households' new drawdowns of housing loans | 1,653 | 1,714 | 1,894 | 0,72 |
* Includes euro-denominated loans and deposits to euro area.
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
- Imputed interest rate margins on loans from MFIs
For further information, please contact:
Meri Sintonen, tel. +358 9 183 2247, email: meri.sintonen(at)bof.fi,
Markus Aaltonen, tel. +358 9 183 2395, email: markus.aaltonen(at)bof.fi.
The next news release will be published at 1 pm on 7 January 2020.
Related statistical data and graphs are also available on the Bank of Finland website: https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/Statistics/mfi-balance-sheet/.