Variable interest rate:
Most Swedish households have a variable mortgage interest rate, or three-month interest rate to be entirely correct. When the Swedish Central Bank has now lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.50 percentage points, the mortgage banks usually follow almost all the way down.
For a million-krona loan, this means that the interest costs decrease by just over 400 kronor per month. After the tax deduction for interest, the effect is around 300 kronor lower interest expenses.
With the same math, for example, a variable three-million-krona loan falls by nearly a thousand kronor in costs after the interest deduction.
Fixed interest rate:
The fixed interest rates are more controlled by the general interest rate situation, interest rates on the bond market, which in turn are controlled mainly by expectations of inflation in the short term.
The fixed mortgage interest rates are currently a good bit below the variable rates, around one percentage point. But in about a year, analysts expect the Swedish Central Bank to have lowered the benchmark interest rate by another nearly one percentage point – which, if the forecasts come true, will push the variable interest rate below what the fixed interest rate is today.
Savings interest rate:
In line with the Swedish Central Bank's lowering of the interest rate, the savings interest rates have followed.
On salary accounts, transaction accounts, the three major banks SEB, Swedbank, and Handelsbanken lowered the interest rate to zero in September. On pure savings accounts, it is still possible to get interest, around 1-1.5 percent, or as the banks themselves usually encourage, to tie up the savings, which can give interest rates of around three percent. The niche banks usually pay a little more.
