Norway eases loan-to-value mortgage limit to 90% (updated)
04/12/2024 06:17
(Adds quote, background in paragraphs 3-4)
OSLO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The Norwegian government will
ease its loan-to-value restriction on mortgage lending, the
finance ministry said on Wednesday, loosening a policy that had
led to a decline in the construction of new homes.
The revised rule set a maximum loan-to-value mortgage ratio
of 90%, up from 85% previously, requiring borrowers to put up
10% equity when buying a home, down from 15% previously.
"The change will allow more people to enter the housing
market," Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum said in a
statement.
First introduced in 2015, the mortgage regulation aims
to protect the banking system and the wider economy as well as
consumers by limiting the growth in borrowing and preventing the
formation of a housing market bubble.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen)
((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70;))