Swedish household borrowing continues to rise - but at a slower pace

Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Sweden is already a country with very high household debts but borrowing to household continues to grow despite various efforts to bring it down to a manageable level.

Official data today from statistic Sweden show that, loans by Monetary financial institutions (MFIs) to households had an annual growth rate of 4.8 percent in April. This was a decrease compared to March, when the growth rate was 5.0 percent. In April 2011, the growth rate was 7.2 percent and had a downward trend for the whole of last year.

MFI loans to households in April amounted to Skr2 681 billion. This is an increase of Skr 123 billion compared to the corresponding month last year. Most of the increase can be explained by a rise in housing loans of Skr 102 billion during the same period. Housing loans are loans to households with single-family dwellings, condominiums and tenant-owned apartments as collateral.

In April, the outstanding housing loans of households at MFIs amounted to Skr 2 151 billion. Of these loans, 52 percent had floating interest rates, which is about the same as in March. In April 2011 the share of housing loans with a floating rate was 55 percent. The remaining part of household borrowing consists of, among other things, loans for consumption that often lack collateral and loans to farmers where agricultural buildings comprise the collateral. Household loans for consumption amounted to Skr 165 billion and loans with agricultural buildings as collateral amounted to Skr 167 billion.

Lending by MFIs to non-financial corporations amounted to Skr 1 842 billion and grew at an annual rate of 5.3 percent. This was an increase compared to March, when the growth rate was 4.4 percent. In April of 2011, the growth rate was 3.3 percent. Loans with multi-dwelling buildings as collateral accounted for the majority of loans to non-financial corporations. In April, these loans amounted to Skr 549 billion. Unsecured loans, or loans without collateral, amounted to Skr 331 billion.
News source: Statistic Sweden

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