Source: Danmarks Nationalbank
Housing debt increased by kr. 12.2 billion in 2024
Despite a reduction in the first quarter, Danes gradually increased their housing debt towards the end of the year. Of the total increase in housing debt of kr. 12.2 billion, kr. 4.1 billion is bank debt, while the remaining kr. 8.1 billion is mortgage bank debt.
In addition to the increase from new loans, private customers have also made fewer repayments on their mortgage loans in recent years. This is mainly due to the relatively higher interest rates on homeowners’ loans compared to a few years ago, which has meant that a larger share of the payment installments has gone to interest payments rather than repayments.
Lower interest rate on new housing loans in 2024
In 2024, many homeowners were able to take advantage of falling interest rates on new housing loans. The interest rate on new loans disbursed to private customers thus fell by 1.2 percentage points during the year to an average of just under 4 pct. including contributions in December. Particularly loan types with medium-term interest rate fixation, i.e., F1, F3, and F5 loans, as well as bank loans, which typically have a short interest rate fixation, experienced interest rate declines during the year. The interest rate on fixed-rate loans fell at the beginning of the year and then remained relatively stable.
Despite a lower interest rate on new housing loans, the average interest rate including contributions on private customers’ total housing debt increased by 0.1 percentage points in 2024. The increase has mainly been driven by interest rate adjustments on loans with an interest rate fixation of 3 years or longer.
F3 loan is the most popular among new variable-rate mortgage loans
In 2024, private customers received 129,000 new mortgage loans (including loan conversions) with a total value of kr. 249 billion. Fixed-rate loans were, as in previous years, the most common type of loan and accounted for about half of the value of all loans disbursed. Among the variable-rate loans, interest in the F3 loan increased during 2024, and F3 loans accounted for approximately 43 pct. of all new variable-rate loans in the fourth quarter. This was particularly at the expense of loans with very short interest rate fixation of 3 or 6 months, which only accounted for 13 pct. of disbursed variable-rate loans in the fourth quarter.