Statistics 30 May 2024 10:00 AM

Demand for investment property loans has picked up slightly

Drawdowns of new investment property loans in March–April 2024 totalled EUR 210 million, an increase of 14% year on year. The year-on-year contraction of the household loan stock as a whole (EUR 106.0 billion) continued (‑1.2%) as the owner-occupied housing loan stock (EUR 97.3 billion) contracted by ‑1.3%. Overall, drawdowns of housing loans remained exceptionally low in April 2024.

Drawdowns of new investment property loans in March–April 2024 totalled EUR 210 million, an increase of 14% year on year. However, the drawdowns were still clearly lower than in the same period in 2021 and 2022. While the drawdown volume has increased from 2023, the annual rate of change of households’ investment property loan stock (EUR 8.7 billion) was 0.0% in April 2024, as opposed to ‑1.1% a year earlier. In month-on-month terms, the stock of investment property loans has now grown for four months in a row.

The year-on-year contraction of the household loan stock as a whole (EUR 106.0 billion) continued (‑1.2%) as the owner-occupied housing loan stock (EUR 97.3 billion) contracted by ‑1.3%. The stock of owner-occupied housing loans contracted reflecting decreased drawdown volumes. Drawdowns of new housing loans in July 2024 totalled EUR 1.9 bn, a decline of 8% on the corresponding month last year.

Overall, drawdowns of housing loans[1] remained exceptionally low in April 2024. In April, drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.1 billion, which was 7% more than a year earlier but 28% less than the April average for 2011–2022. In 2023, April had fewer working days than in 2024 due to Easter, which had an impact on the amount drawn down. According to the imputed seasonally-adjusted[2] figures reflecting the number of working days and the timing of Easter, housing loan drawdowns in April 2024 came in lower than in the previous year.

The average interest rate on new housing loans (4.36%) has remained almost unchanged year-to-date in 2024. In April 2024, the average interest rate on new investment property loans was 4.53% and on owner-occupied housing loans 4.34%. The rise of the average interest on housing loan stock (4.08%) has also stopped in early 2024, having remained unchanged since the end of December 2023. In April 2024, the average interest rate on the stock of owner-occupied housing loans was 4.06% and on the stock of investment property loans 4.28%.

Loans

At the end of April 2024, Finnish households’ loan stock comprised EUR 17.8 billion in consumer credit and EUR 17.5 billion in other loans.

Drawdowns of new loans[3] by Finnish non-financial corporations amounted to EUR 2.1 billion, with loans to housing corporations’ loans accounting for EUR 680 million. The average interest rate on new corporate loan drawdowns rose from March, to stand at 5.47%. At the end of April, the stock of loans granted to Finnish non-financial corporations was EUR 107.4 billion, whereof loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 44.3 billion.

Deposits

At the end of April 2024, the aggregate stock of Finnish households’ deposits totalled EUR 109.0 billion, and the average interest rate on these deposits was 1.34%. Overnight deposits accounted for EUR 67.3 billion and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 13.2 billion of the total deposit stock. In April, Finnish households made EUR 1.2 billion of new deposit agreements with an agreed maturity, at an average interest rate of 3.52%.

Loans and deposits to Finland, preliminary data*
	February, EUR million	March, EUR million	April, EUR million	April, 12-month change¹, %	Average interest rate, %
Loans to households, stock	141,631	141,627	141,341	-0.9	4.64
- of which housing loans	106,204	106,172	106,007	-1.2	4.08
- of which buy-to-let mortgages	8,636	8,651	8,666		4.28
Loans to non-financial corporations², stock	107,251	107,557	107,445	1.0	4.75
Deposits by households, stock	107,999	109,045	108,992	-2.1	1.34
Households' new drawdowns of housing loans	922	998	1,111		4.36
- of which buy-to-let mortgages	95	97	113		4.53

* Includes loans and deposits in all currencies to residents in Finland. The statistical releases of the Bank of Finland up to January 2021, as well as those of the ECB, present loans and deposits in euro to euro area residents and also include non-profit institutions serving households. For these reasons, the figures in this table differ from those in the aforementioned releases.
1 Rate of change has been calculated from monthly differences in levels adjusted for classification and other revaluation changes.
2 Non-financial corporations also include housing corporations.