HOUSEHOLDS in Finland took out 1.9 billion euros worth of new housing loans in April, according to the Bank of Finland.
The value of housing loan drawdowns represents an increase of over 480 million euros from the previous year and pushed up the stock of housing loans by four per cent year-on-year to 104 billion euros by the end of April.
The average interest on housing loans was 0.82 per cent.
Finnish households were also burdened with 16.5 billion euros worth of consumer credit and 17.4 billion euros worth of other loans at the end of April. The central monetary authority said the consumer-credit total comprised of 3.2 billion euros in vehicle loans, 4.1 billion euros in overdrafts and credit card credit, and 9.3 billion euros in other forms of consumer credit.
The average interest rate on the whole consumer credit stock was 4.61 per cent. Vehicle loans had an average rate of 2.79 per cent, other consumer credit one of 4.29 per cent, and overdrafts and credit card credit one of 6.73 per cent.
In April, the drawdowns of consumer credit amounted to 440 million euros, of which vehicle loans made up 161 million euros.
Households had over 106 billion euros in deposits in April, including 96.3 billion euros in overnight deposits and 3.2 billion euros in agreed-maturity deposits. The deposits had an average interest rate of 0.04 per cent.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
