Interest rate on new housing loans down close to the margin

In January 2016, the imputed margin on new drawdowns of housing loans was 1.24%, and the average interest rate, which includes the margin and the reference rate, was 1.30%. Thus the reference rate accounted for only 0.06 percentage points of the interest rate on new drawdowns of housing loans, compared to 0.23 percentage points a year earlier and 0.49 percentage points two years ago.

In new housing loan agreements, the minimum reference rate is usually set at zero, so that if the reference rate is negative the customer only pays the margin.

The most popular reference rate, the 12-month Euribor, was still in January 2016 positive, but in February, it turned negative for the first time. In January 2016, as much as 79% of new housing loans were tied to the 12-month Euribor. Of the new housing loans, a total of 96% were tied to Euribor rates.

In January 2016, households' new drawdowns of housing loans amounted to EUR 1.1 bn, which is slightly more than a year earlier in January. The stock of euro-denominated housing loans totalled EUR 92 bn at the end of January, and the annual growth rate of the stock was 2.5%. At the end of January, household credit comprised EUR 14.0 bn in consumer credit and EUR 16.0 bn in other loans.

New drawdowns of loans to non-financial corporations (excl. overdrafts and credit card credit) amounted to EUR 1.7 bn in January. The average interest rate on new corporate-loan drawdowns was 1.80%. The stock of euro-denominated loans to non-financial corporations at the end of January was EUR 73 bn, of which loans to housing corporations accounted for EUR 23.5 bn.

Deposits

At the end of January, the stock of household deposits totalled EUR 82.2 bn, and the average interest rate on the deposits was 0.27%. Of the total deposit stock, overnight deposits accounted for EUR 56.7 bn and deposits with agreed maturity for EUR 10.8 bn. In January, households concluded EUR 1.1 bn of new agreements on deposits with agreed maturity. The average interest rate on these declined from December, to 0.74% in January.

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.