The state-owned bank SBAB is lowering the variable mortgage rate by 0.10 percentage points and the fixed mortgage rates by between 0.10 and 0.25 percentage points.
"The Swedish Central Bank's lowering of the repo rate means lower borrowing costs for us as a bank, which enables us to lower the mortgage rates further," says Mikael Inglander, CEO of SBAB, in a press release.
Swedbank also announced on Wednesday that the bank is lowering its mortgage rates by between 0.05 and 0.10 percentage points. Later, Länsförsäkringar followed suit, lowering the variable rate by 0.15 percentage points, while the fixed rate is lowered to a lesser extent.
In turn, Handelsbanken is lowering the variable rate by 0.10 percentage points and the fixed rates by between 0.05 and 0.15 percentage points.
"Different levels"
Nordea and Danske Bank announced already on Tuesday that they are lowering their mortgage rates.
Mostly, the major banks' adjustments now are not on par with the Swedish Central Bank's rate cut of 0.25 percentage points. However, with the cuts made by several banks earlier in August, it totals to cuts of around 0.20 percentage points over the past month.
It will be different levels at different times in this rapid decline. But I would think that the average will be just below what the Swedish Central Bank does, says Christina Sahlberg, who believes in further cuts of mortgage rates before the Swedish Central Bank's next rate decision in September.
Enormous loans
Smaller mortgage banks are likely to be more aggressive than the major banks.
Are they stingy, trying to drag it out?
It's clear that one can think it's a bit stingy. We saw at the Swedish Central Bank's previous cut in May that the banks on average lowered by 0.23 percentage points, says Sahlberg.
The major banks have enormous loans from us that they earn a lot from. Just a small cut makes a huge difference. The banks will absolutely do everything to not lower as much as the Swedish Central Bank to earn a little extra.
At the same time, it's important to look at the banks' average rates rather than just the list rates.
A bank can lower more or less on the list rate, but start giving more or less large discounts, says Christina Sahlberg.
