Major banks raise variable mortgage rates by 0.15 percentage points

Variable mortgage rates are usually directly influenced by the Swedish Central Bank. But so far the Swedish Central Bank has not raised the key rate, even though players in the fixed-income market expect increases this year as a result of rising inflation in the wake of the Iran war.

Last Friday, Danske Bank was the first among the major banks to raise its variable mortgage interest rate, citing that "short-term market interest rates have risen significantly, resulting in sharply higher borrowing costs."

Now Swedbank and Nordea are following suit with increases to 3.94 and 3.99 percent, respectively.

Actual average interest rates are significantly lower.

Nordea is also raising fixed interest rates, something most other banks had already done.