Your mortgage rate is negotiable — here is how to lower it

The banks’ list rate (listränta) is the sticker price. It is what they charge customers who do not ask. The actual rate customers pay after negotiation is on average about 1.3 percentage points lower at the major banks.

That is not a small difference.

The example below shows what the difference means for a mortgage of SEK 3 million (interest cost only, before tax deduction):

Interest rate	Cost/month	Difference vs. list per year
3.95% (list)	9,875	—
2.65% (average)	6,625	39,000
2.30% (good negotiation)	5,750	49,500

Nearly SEK 50,000 per year. Over five years: a quarter of a million. That is worth a 20-minute phone call.

What determines your rate

The loan-to-value ratio (belåningsgrad) plays the biggest role. Lower leverage means lower risk for the bank, and they share the benefit. Every threshold you cross on the way down can yield 0.05–0.15 percentage points better rate. The key thresholds are 90% (the new mortgage ceiling since 1 April 2026), 70% and 50%. Sometimes it pays to make an extra amortisation payment to get below a threshold.

Full customer engagement (helkundsengagemang) typically gives an extra 0.10–0.20 percentage points in discount at most major banks. This is the bank’s way of rewarding customers who consolidate their salary account, savings, insurance and pension with them.

Trade union membership gives roughly 0.10 percentage points in discount at some banks through union agreements. LO-affiliated unions have an agreement with Swedbank, and TCO- and Saco-affiliated unions have agreements with Danske Bank among others. Check what your union offers.

Since 1 July 2025, banks are required under the Financial Supervisory Authority’s (Finansinspektionen) general guidelines to notify you at least one month before a time-limited rate discount expires. Previously, the discount could disappear silently.

How to do it in practice

The most important negotiating weapon is competitive pressure. Get quotes from at least 2–3 banks and show them to each other. Banks do not want to lose customers and often match competitors’ offers. It takes an afternoon and can save tens of thousands.

Call the bank and tell them you are considering moving your mortgage. Bring a concrete offer — not “a friend got a lower rate” but an actual quote. Be prepared to actually switch, because that is the only thing that truly works. Moving a mortgage normally takes a couple of weeks. Timing helps: negotiate when your fixed-rate period expires. And negotiate the whole package — fees and setup costs count too.

Do not like negotiating? Lenders such as Stabelo, Hypoteket, Landshypotek and Danske Bank offer pre-negotiated mortgages where the rate is set automatically based on loan-to-value ratio and loan amount. SBAB also sets the rate based on loan-to-value ratio without traditional negotiation. These alternatives are often competitive and save time.

A lower rate also reduces your interest rate sensitivity: every tenth of a percent you lower gives you a slightly larger buffer if the market turns. Remember that you receive a 30% tax reduction on mortgage interest up to SEK 100,000 per year (and 21% on the portion above SEK 100,000), so your actual cost after tax is lower than the rate on paper. A reduced rate still gives you the full benefit of the tax reduction.

Try with your current rate and the one you negotiate — in BoKalk you see immediately how the difference affects monthly cost, affordability assessment (KALP — kvar att leva på) and 10-year forecast. That makes it easier to know whether the negotiation is worth the effort.

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Christoffer, founder BoKalk