Amortisation requirement 2026: how much you must pay down

To amortise means paying down your mortgage. In Sweden it is not voluntary. Borrowing a certain share of the home’s value, you must pay down a slice every year. Finansinspektionen (the financial supervisory authority) decides, and the rules have stood since 2016.

Sounds complicated. But it is simpler than it seems once you put numbers on it. And in 2026 one of the rules changed, so it is worth reading even if you thought you had it covered.

The basic rule: your loan-to-value decides

How much you must amortise depends on your loan-to-value ratio (belåningsgrad). That is how large a share of the home’s value you borrowed. Borrowing 2 million on a home worth 2.5 million, the ratio is 80 percent.

Borrowing more than 70 percent of the value, you amortise at least 2 percent of the loan per year. Between 50 and 70 percent, you amortise at least 1 percent per year. Below 50 percent there is no legal requirement at all. But many banks still think you should keep paying down, and that is rarely bad advice.

Note that amortisation counts on the whole loan, not just the part above a threshold. At 71 percent loan-to-value you thus pay 2 percent on everything borrowed. The question how much amortisation is required in 2026 gets a short answer on its own page.

The stricter requirement is gone

There used to be an extra requirement on top of this. Borrowing more than 4.5 times your yearly gross income, you amortised another 1 percent. It was called the stricter amortisation requirement, and it built on your debt-to-income ratio, meaning how large the loan was relative to earnings.

That requirement is gone. With the rule change on 1 April 2026, the stricter amortisation requirement was scrapped. Earning, say, 600,000 kronor a year and borrowing 3 million, your debt-to-income is 5 times income. Before, that added an extra percent to amortise. Now it does not.

Left is only the basic rule driven by loan-to-value: 1 percent above 50 percent, 2 percent above 70 percent. It got simpler, and for many households with big mortgages the monthly cost fell.

The same year the down payment was lowered

On 1 April 2026 something else happened. The mortgage cap rose from 85 to 90 percent. That means the down payment (kontantinsats) requirement fell from 15 to 10 percent of the home’s price.

It connects to amortisation. Putting only 10 percent down, your loan-to-value sits at 90 percent. Then the higher amortisation requirement hits directly: 2 percent per year. Less money in now means more to amortise each month, so calculate both parts before you decide.

Worked examples in kronor

Buyer A buys for 3 million and puts 600,000 down. The loan is 2,400,000 kronor at 80 percent loan-to-value, so above 70 percent, and 2 percent applies. That is 48,000 kronor a year, so 4,000 kronor a month.

Buyer B buys for 5 million and puts 800,000 down. The loan is 4,200,000 kronor at 84 percent loan-to-value. Again 2 percent applies. That is 84,000 kronor a year, or 7,000 a month. Under the old rules buyer B would have paid extra for high debt-to-income, but that is gone now.

Buyer C stayed put and amortised down to 60 percent loan-to-value. The loan is 1,800,000 kronor. Then 1 percent applies, so 18,000 kronor a year or 1,500 a month.

Amortisation shrinks over time

One nice thing to know: the requirement is recalculated every year from what you actually owe. As you amortise, the loan shrinks, and so does the amount you must pay down. Amortisation in kronor thus falls with each passing year.

If the home’s value rises, loan-to-value falls by itself. Crossing the 70-percent line downward, the requirement moves from 2 to 1 percent. But in the first year, when you run your numbers, count the full amortisation alongside interest. That is when it costs most.

Count amortisation in from the start

Amortisation is as real a part of monthly cost as interest. The difference is that it goes to yourself, building equity in the home. But the money must be there each month.

On SökHem you start from what you actually handle each month when setting your budget. Counting amortisation in there matches you with homes that fit your finances for real, not just on paper. Then no nasty surprises when the numbers come due.