The major bank SEB is lowering its interest rates with longer maturities, 1-10 years, by 0.10 percentage points. The bank's floating mortgage rate with a three-month maturity – which generally follows the Swedish Central Bank's benchmark rate both upwards and downwards – is not being adjusted.
The announcement comes after Friday's unexpectedly low inflation figures for June from the Statistics Sweden (SCB), which sparked speculation about rapid interest rate cuts from the Swedish Central Bank and pushed down Swedish market interest rates.
For a two-year loan, the list rate at SEB is being lowered to 4.54 percent, while for a five-year loan, it is being lowered to 4.09 percent. The list rates published by banks are significantly higher than the actual interest rate a customer pays for a mortgage loan after discounts.
SEB's average interest rate on two- and five-year mortgage loans was 3.87 percent and 3.42 percent, respectively, in June.
Earlier in the week, Swedbank and Handelsbanken – the two largest lenders on the Swedish mortgage market – also lowered interest rates on mortgage loans with longer maturities.
