News of the week in plain Finnish | Saturday 7.3.2026

Extension of the repayment period for housing loans

Listen

You can read the news simultaneously below.

Topic of the week

This week’s topic is the extension of mortgage repayment periods.

In Finland, you can get longer-term mortgages than before.

A law will come into effect in April that allows mortgages of up to 35 years.

Previously, the loan repayment period was usually a maximum of 25 or 30 years.

We will now explain what the change means and what effects it may have.

Open image viewer

A small monthly payment can make it easier to buy a home. Photo: Henrietta Hassinen / Yle

Interest expenses

The monthly loan payment decreases as the loan term increases.

It makes it easier to repay the loan if your income is low.

Therefore, more Finns than before may have the opportunity to buy their own home.

However, a long loan term increases the interest costs of the loan.

The usual mortgage amount in Finland is 125,000 euros.

If the loan term is 35 years, you will have to pay approximately 77,000 euros in interest on the loan. That is 12,000 euros more than on a 30-year loan.

Finns have not taken out many long-term loans.

Approximately 30 percent of Finns have taken out a mortgage for more than 25 years.

All Finns have mortgages totaling approximately 100 billion euros.

My savings

The government is also planning another way to make it easier to buy a home.

The aim is to make buying a home easier even for those who don’t have a lot of money saved.

In the future, you may be able to buy a home with less savings than before.

The government proposes that only 5 percent of the price of the apartment needs your own money and the rest can be borrowed from a bank.

Risks

Experts say that a longer loan term can help families and low-income earners buy their own home.

However, experts warn of the risks.

Long-term loans can increase indebtedness and financial problems if people take out too large loans.

A long-term loan can increase a family’s debt.

A large debt can be a problem if your life situation changes, for example due to unemployment.

The Bank of Finland and the banking supervisor, the Financial Supervisory Authority, say that people need to understand that a loan will be more expensive if the repayment period is really long.

Open image viewer

The Bank of Finland and the Financial Supervisory Authority warn about the risks of long-term loans. Photo: Matti Myller / Yle

Repetition

The weekly news in plain Finnish reported on the extension of mortgages in Finland.

The new law allows for mortgages of up to 35 years. Long loan terms bring new opportunities for people to buy a home, but they also increase financial risks.

Experts say that people need to carefully calculate what kind of loan is suitable for their own finances.

This was the news of the week in plain Finnish. See you again, bye!