Euribor rates increasingly popular as reference rates for housing loans
Euribor rates have increased their popularity as reference rates for new housing loans throughout the early part of the year. In March 2012, as much as 84% of new housing loans were linked to a Euribor rate. As in the previous months, 11% of new housing-loan drawdowns were linked to a fixed rate and almost 6% to banks' own reference rates. In December 2011, as much as 12% of new housing loans were still linked to prime rates. The fall in Euribor rates and their increased popularity has also induced a drop in average interest rates on new housing loans in the early part of the year. In March 2012, the average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns was 2.23%.
Loans
Households' new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.6 bn in March 2012, which is almost as much as a year earlier. The average interest rate on new housing-loan drawdowns fell by 0.14 percentage point from February, to 2.23%. At end-March the stock of euro-denominated housing loans amounted to EUR 82.5 bn and carried an average interest rate of 2.34%. The annual growth rate of the housing loan stock increased from February, to 6.5% in March.
New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excluding overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted to EUR 2.0 bn in March, which is about EUR 300 m more than a year earlier. The average interest rate on new corporate loans fell to 2.19%, from 2.30% in February. At end-March the stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations amounted to EUR 61.9 bn, of which loans to housing corporations totalled EUR 14.4 bn. The annual growth rate of the corporate loan stock accelerated to 7.9%, from 7.4% in February.
Deposits
At end-March the stock of household deposits totalled EUR 82.1 bn. The average interest rate on the stock was 1.02%. Households concluded new agreements on deposits with an agreed maturity in the amount of EUR 2.3 bn. The average interest rate on these fell to 1.82%, from 1.89% in February.
In the first quarter of 2012 households concluded 2,475 new long-term savings contracts. At end-March the total number of long-term savings contracts was 20,885. In January-March households deposited EUR 5.1 m in long-term savings accounts. At end-March long-term savings accounts amounted to EUR 31.9 m..
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
| January, EUR million |
February, EUR million |
March, EUR million |
March, 12-month change1, % |
March, | |
| Loans to households2, stock | 109.726 | 109.984 | 110.468 | 5.4 | 2.70 |
| - of which housing loans | 81.884 | 82.119 | 82.546 | 6.5 | 2.34 |
| Loans to non-financial corporations2, stock | 60.997 | 61.647 | 61.927 | 7.9 | 2.52 |
| Deposits by households2, stock | 81.894 | 81.636 | 82.066 | 5.0 |
1.02 |
| Households' new drawdowns of housing loans | 1.252 | 1.370 | 1.586 | – | 2.23 |
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
For further information, please contact Jussi Pajunen, tel. +358 10 831 2343, email: jussi.pajunen(at)bof.fi
The next news release will be published at 1 pm on 31 May 2012.