Norway's financial stability as risk from household debt, property prices -regulator

Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge

10/12/2019 09:26

OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - High household debt levels and high
property prices pose significant risk to Norway's financial
stability, the country's bank regulator said in a report on
Tuesday.
    "Many households have a very high debt burden and limited
financial buffers. If the level of interest remains low, there
is a risk that vulnerabilities will build up in households and
firms in the coming years," the Financial Supervisory Authority
(FSA) wrote.
    "The debt burden, measured by the ratio of debt to
disposable income, has reached a historically high level and is
higher than in the majority of other countries. The growth in
household debt has gradually abated and is now roughly in line
with the increase in households' disposable income," it added.

 (Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
 ((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70))