What is a green mortage?
In times of crisis, more and more people review their finances and negotiate interest rates. With a Nordic Swan Ecolabelled home, you can apply for green mortgages from your bank. That way, you live with care for the environment while it pays off financially.
What is a green mortgage, you may ask?
In short, a green mortgage means that you get a discount on the mortgage rate. It also means that the loan goes to a home that is built with healthy materials, has good ventilation and is energy efficient. The latter also gives you, as a resident, lower costs and a better economic value over time.
"At SEB, we continue to see a steady and strong demand for green mortgages. It is encouraging that climate-smart houses are becoming increasingly important for our customers when choosing a home. Customers today are more well-informed and green mortgages have become a well-established concept for many. It has also become increasingly important for our customers to carry out energy renovations on their homes, especially recently when energy costs have risen significantly", says Peter Seidel, Commercial Manager Mortgages Private, SEB.
What does it take to get a green mortgage?
To qualify for a green mortgage, you need to either already have or plan to mortgage an environmentally certified home, for example, one certified with the Nordic Swan Ecolabel. Alternatively, the home must be energy-efficient, according to the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning's energy classification from January 1, 2014, or later.
If it’s a Nordic Swan Ecolabelled home, you’ll need to provide a certificate to your bank as proof that your home is certified. If the certificate isn’t included in the purchase documents, you should contact the housing cooperative or the company that built your Nordic Swan Ecolabelled home to obtain a copy of the certificate.
A Nordic Swan Ecolabelled home means that the building was constructed according to the Swan's criteria, valid at the start of construction. Since we continuously tighten our requirements, a construction project may last longer than the validity period of the criteria. The validity period is stated on the certificate, but it doesn’t mean that the house loses its Nordic Swan certification after this period has passed. All requirements are checked on-site by Ecolabelling Sweden – the Nordic Swan.
Which banks have green mortgages?
Interest in sustainable construction continues and means that many banks offer green mortgages. If your bank does not, ask for green mortgages and make demands, so that more banks follow suit. Many major banks such as SEB, Nordea, Handelsbanken, Danske Bank and Swedbank offer green mortgages today.
