Lower growth rate on loans to households

Households' loans in monetary financial institutions (MFIs) had an annual growth rate of 5.2 percent in December. This was a decrease compared to November, when the growth rate was 5.3 percent. The growth rate was 7.9 percent in December of 2010. MFIs include banks, housing credit institutions and finance companies.

Households' borrowing from MFIs in December amounted to SEK 2 649 billion. Housing loans accounted for the largest part, SEK 2 124 billion. Housing loans are loans to households with single-family dwellings, condominiums and tenant-owned apartments that serve as collateral. The annual growth rate for housing loans was 5.4 percent in December, a decrease compared to November when the growth rate was 5.6 percent. Of the outstanding housing loans, 51 percent were taken with a floating rate, which is the same share as in November. The corresponding figure in December 2010 was 61 percent. The remaining part of household lending consists of, among other things, loans for consumption that often lack security and loans to farmers where agricultural buildings comprise the security. Households' loans for consumption amounted to SEK 164 billion in December.

MFIs' lending to non-financial corporations amounted to SEK 1 825 billion. The annual growth rate increased to 7.0 percent compared to 5.5 percent in November. The growth rate was 1.8 percent in December of 2010.

Growth rate, lending to households and non-financial corporations

Continued rise for lending rates to households

The average interest rate on households' new loan agreements was 4.25 percent in December, an upturn against 4.18 in November (revised figure). This upturn was mainly for loans with floating rates and fixed periods of up to one year. The floating rate rose from 4.47 in November (revised figure) to 4.53 in December.

The average interest rate for households' new deposits in bank accounts was 1.33 percent, compared to 1.38 percent in November. Interest rates on accounts with fixed periods or a limited number of free withdrawals dropped slightly from 2.26 percent in November to 2.25 percent in December.

MFIs' lending rates for new loan agreements to non-financial corporations averaged 3.82 percent in December, compared to 3.83 percent in November. The average interest rate in December 2010 was 2.91 percent.

Interest rate and growth rate, lending to households and non-financial corporations

	Interest rate, new agreements to housholds	Growth rate, lending to households	Interest rate, new agreements to non-financial corporations	Growth rate, lending to non-financial corporations
Dec 2010	3.38%	7.9%	2.91%	1.8%
Nov 2011	4.18%	5.3%	3.83%	5.5%
Dec 2011	4.25%	5.2%	3.82%	7.0%

Positive growth rate for M1 and M3

The narrow monetary aggregate M1 had an annual growth rate of 0.9 percent in December, which was an increase compared to 0.2 percent in November. M1 amounted to SEK 1 599 billion in December.

The growth rate for the broad monetary aggregate M3 was 6.3 percent in December. In November the growth rate was 6.1 percent (revised figure). In total, the M3 amounted to SEK 2 376 billion in December.

Annual growth rate of the money supply

M1 consists of the general public's holdings of bank notes and coins as well as demand deposits by the general public in MFIs and with the central government. In addition to M1, M3 also includes deposits with certain conditions, repurchases, shares in money market funds, and short term securities.

Revisions for housing interest rates and M3

Revisions have been made in this publishing for banks' lending rates for housing loans (outstanding and new agreements). The revisions apply to the time period May through November 2011 and affect both short and long term interest rates. However, the effect on housing loans’ interest rates in total is moderate: rates for outstanding loans and new agreements fell at most by 0.05 and 0.13 percentage points respectively.

Revisions have also been made on MFIs' maturities for issued securities. As a result of the revisions, the annual growth rate for M3 decreased between January and November 2011.

Definitions and explanations

Statistics Sweden compiles monthly financial market statistics on behalf of the Riksbank. These statistics are based mainly on the MFI report. The MFI sector consists of banks, housing credit institutions, finance companies, institutions financing municipalities and companies, monetary securities companies and monetary investment funds (money market funds).