The banks' so-called gross margin increased from 0.64 percentage points during the second quarter to 0.78 percentage points in the third, according to FI's latest measurement.
According to Moa Langemark, the margins tend to increase when the Swedish Central Bank lowers the interest rate and when the interest rate situation generally deteriorates.
But these figures also show that there is a great opportunity for consumers to take and negotiate their mortgage interest rate.
Few switch banks
How do you view the banks' margins on mortgages continuing to increase?
Many households still spend a large part of their income on mortgage interest rates. But from a societal economic perspective, we want stable banks. This shows that we consumers can be more active. We can also see that few switch mortgage providers, only 7 percent in the last five years.
There are several explanations for this, according to Moa Langemark. Partly because it has been complicated to switch banks, but also because many tend to have a little bad self-confidence when it comes to their relationship with their bank.
And there is a risk that the banks exploit the fact that consumers are not so active and question the interest rate they receive.
Can change quickly
The appeal to bank customers is clear: if you are not satisfied, look for other alternatives.
It is important that you do not sit and pay too much.
Now that the Swedish Central Bank has lowered the interest rate on several occasions and mortgage interest rates are starting to fall, there is a risk that consumers will lean back and not be as active as they were when interest rates were higher, according to Langemark.
Sweden is in a recession and there are many uncertainty factors that can quickly worsen the economy, both in terms of the Swedish Central Bank's interest rate needing to be raised and also that one's own private economy can change, she says.
