How much mortgage can you get? LTV cap, down payment and stress test (2026)

In Finland you can get a mortgage of at most 90% of the price, and if it is a first home, the limit is 95%. The rest you have to cover with your own money: around 10% for an ordinary buyer, around 5% for a first-home buyer. This is the loan-to-value cap (lainakatto), or maximum loan-to-collateral ratio, and Finanssivalvonta kept it unchanged in March 2026. The LTV cap only tells you the ceiling set by collateral, though. How much you will be lent comes out of the bank’s stress test, where your loan is tested at a calculation rate of around 6%.

LTV cap: how much of the price you can borrow

The LTV cap ties the loan amount to the value of the property, not to your income. It sets a ceiling on how large a share of the home price the bank may lend against collateral.

Situation	LTV cap	Own money at least
First home	95%	~5%
Other home (not a first home)	90%	~10%
Investment or holiday home	90%	~10%

Example: for a 250,000-euro first home the bank can lend at most 237,500 euros, so you need around 12,500 euros of your own money. For another home at the same price the loan is at most 225,000 euros and your own money around 25,000 euros.

You can meet the LTV cap with collateral other than cash. If you already own another debt-free home, or a relative offers one as security, you need less of your own money. Note that purchase-related costs always come on top of your own money, such as the transfer tax and moving costs. The loan does not cover those.

The stress test: at a 6% calculation rate

This decides the loan’s real ceiling more often than the LTV cap does. Even if the market rate is low, the bank works out whether your finances could withstand a clearly higher rate. Under Finanssivalvonta’s recommendation the bank should make sure that:

• the loan withstands a calculation rate of around 6%
• the repayment period is at most 25 years
• loan servicing stays below 60% of net income

In practice this means the calculation is done with a figure much higher than your real monthly payment. If a 300,000-euro loan is repaid over 25 years at a 6% rate, the monthly payment is around 1,930 euros. It has to fit within 60% of your household’s combined net income, and your other debts (student loan, car loan, consumer loans) are counted in.

That gives a rule of thumb: the size of your loan depends above all on your net income and your other debts. In a two-person household the borrowing capacity is typically clearly larger than for one person.

How much of your own money you really need

It pays to set aside more of your own money than just the minimum the LTV cap requires. The total need is made up of several parts.

Item	Amount (example: 250,000 e first home)
Down payment (~5%)	~12,500 e
Transfer tax (housing-company share 1.5%)	~3,750 e
Moving costs, insurance, buffer	1,000-3,000 e
Total	~17,000-19,000 e

A first-home buyer pays the transfer tax like everyone else. The earlier first-home exemption ended on 1 January 2024, so budget for the tax even when buying your first home. For a housing-company share the tax is 1.5% of the debt-free price, and for real property 3%.

ASP account and state guarantee: how to borrow more cheaply

If you are saving for a first home, an ASP account is almost always the cheapest route. The conditions that took effect on 1 June 2026 are good from the buyer’s side:

• Interest subsidy of 70% on the part of the interest above 3.8% (lasts 10 years). If rates rise, the state pays a large share of the excess interest.
• A free state guarantee up to 90% of the home price, so you need less of your own money with no separate guarantee fee.
• At least 20 monthly deposits of 50-1,500 euros a month, building up own savings of at least 10% of the price.

Even without an ASP account, a state guarantee is possible on an ordinary mortgage, but then it covers 85% of the home price and a fee is charged. The state guarantee does not increase the size of the loan. It replaces part of your own collateral, so the down payment required by the LTV cap can shrink.

What rate to run the calculation at

In Finland about 94% of new mortgages are tied to Euribor, so the monthly payment moves with the rate. That is why the bank’s 6% stress test is the same question worth asking yourself. Could your finances cope if rates rose clearly? Work out your own monthly payment both at the real rate and at 6%, and see whether the higher payment fits your budget without squeezing daily life too much.

Once you know these three figures, the down payment required by the LTV cap, the 60%-of-net-income limit, and the 6% calculation rate, you can estimate a realistic ceiling before you apply for a loan offer. The bank’s calculation then comes as no surprise.

---

When you find a listing you are considering, you can add it to Heimer. You see the monthly cost at your own rate and at the stress rate, so you know straight away whether the home fits your budget.