Go to search feature Go to content

You need to use a different browser. To be able to use our internet services, you can instead use one of these browsers: Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Mozilla Firefox.

Read more about recommended browsers

Green mortgages to finance green housing

This week SEB launched green mortgages. The new loans are available to anyone with housing that Sweden’s National Board of Housing, Building and Planning have assigned an A or B rating for energy efficiency.

“With our green mortgages we want to highlight the importance of environmental issues related to housing and favour those who choose an energy efficient dwelling or make investments that improve energy efficiency. It is also a way for us to meet an increasing demand for sustainable products, which is in line with our strategy,” says Mats Torstendahl, head of division Corporate & Private Customers.

There are many technical solutions available to help reduce energy use in residential housing units, but Swedes are not using them very often. 

“All real estate combined is responsible for about 40 per cent of Sweden’s total energy consumption, and despite availability of technical solutions our energy consumption is unchanged from the 1970’s. That is why we want to encourage more people to choose housing with lower energy use. We do that by offering our customers a 10 basis points reduction on the interest rate paid,” says Gabriel Lundström, who is responsible for sustainability within Corporate & Private Customers. 

Lundström says there are other criteria that could lead to reduced mortgage rates going forward, such as choice of materials.

“We start here but will continuously review other criteria going forward. That includes looking closer at other types of certifications.”