Interest rates on household loans on rise in May

Finnish households had EUR 140.6 billion in loans from banks operating in Finland at the end of May 2026, said the Bank of Finland on Tuesday.

The average interest rate on the loan stock was 3.40%, having risen for three consecutive months.

Higher market interest rates are reflected in the average interest rate on the loan stock.

The increase in the average rate is due both to higher interest rates on new loans and to interest rate resets of existing variable-rate loans.

In May 2026, the average interest rate on new household loan drawdowns1 was 3.91%, which was 0,37 percentage points higher than in May 2025.

At the end of May 89% of households’ bank loans were linked to Euribor rates.

Nearly 3% were linked to banks’ own reference rates, while slightly over 7% were fixed-rate loans.

Within the housing loan stock, 95% of loans were linked to Euribor rates while slightly less than 4% were fixed-rate loans.

Buy-to-let mortgages are somewhat more often linked to Euribor rates than owner-occupied housing loans.

Among owner-occupied housing loans, the shares of fixed-rate loans and loans linked to banks’ own reference rates are slightly higher than among buy-to-let mortgages.

In January–May 2026, almost 6% of new housing loan drawdowns were fixed-rate loans.

The interest rate on new fixed-rate housing loans has also risen over the previous three months and was 3.64% in May 2026.

Consumer credit differs from other household loans in terms of interest rate linkage, as only 54% of consumer credit is linked to Euribor rates. This is mainly due to the large share of vehicle loans, most of which are fixed-rate loans.

At the end of May 2026, the average interest rate on the stock of vehicle loans granted by banks was 4.40%, close to its lowest level in two years.

The average interest rate on the stock of other consumer credit increased slightly from the previous month and stood at 7.66% in May.

Increases in interest rates are reflected more quickly in new consumer credit drawdowns than in the loan stock.

Nevertheless, interest rates on new loans remained below the average interest rate on the stock. In May 2026, the annualised agreed rate was 4.08% on new vehicle loans and7.64% on other consumer credit.