As far as we can see, these requirements have more or less had the effect that could have been expected: credit expansion has slowed down a bit and people who were previously taking very large loans are now taking smaller loans. 24 According to the random sample from 2018 upon which Finansinspektionen’s latest mortgage survey is based, the average debt-to-income ratio among new mortgage borrowers is 398 per cent, which is slightly lower than in the previous year. The proportion of new mortgage borrowers with mortgages exceeding 450 per cent of their annual gross income also fell between 2017 and 2018. The fact that many new mortgage borrowers are choosing to borrow amounts just below the stricter amortisation requirement indicates that this has affected households’ propensity to take out very large loans in relation their incomes and, ultimately, the kinds of objects they are deciding to purchase. 25 If a household has previously wanted to purchase a one bedroom flat in a metropolitan area at a price of just over 2,500,000 kronor, the macroprudential policy measures have made it more difficult for the household to purchase this object. However, it is important to use the terms correctly. Those households that have been affected by the amortisation requirements and that want to purchase a tenant-owned apartment have not been excluded from the housing market, but only from purchasing that one-bedroom flat for 2,500,000 kronor. Such households can, instead, choose to purchase another one-bedroom flat for a lower price.
I am well aware that both functional authority and tools lie beyond the Riksbank’s remit, but as household debt and problems on the housing market affect the way the economy works, this development is also a source of unease for the Riksbank. Housing prices have been rising for a long time To begin with, I would like to say a few words on how housing prices have developed in Sweden. Since 2005, they have more than doubled, but the price rise started before then. The fact that housing prices have risen so rapidly for such a long period of time and are now historically high can be explained by factors such as the imbalance between supply and demand for housing, rising real wages and lower taxes, which have increased households’ disposable incomes. 8 Housing prices fell in the autumn of 2017, but have since then recovered slightly. The fall in prices has also affected housing construction, which, after increasing strongly in recent years, slowed down again in 2018 and 2019. Over time, the development of housing prices has contributed towards increasing household indebtedness, even if the slightly weaker development in recent years has contributed towards lending for household mortgages now increasing more slowly than previously. All in all, this has led to household debt as a proportion of disposable income (the debt-to-income ratio) staying relatively unchanged over the last year, but being expected to continue to increase over the coming years. 9 The debt-toincome ratio for the entire household sector is currently over 186 per cent.