What makes a first home purchase intimidating is not the buying, it is all the new words: kontantinsats, belaningsgrad, amorteringskrav, KALP, pantbrev. Each one is simple once someone explains it. Together they decide how expensive a home you can buy and what it costs every month. So let us take them in the order you actually meet them.
You need a down payment of at least 10% of the price, and the bank lends the rest if your budget holds up. How expensive you can buy is decided not by today's interest rate but by the bank's stress test and the amortisation rules. So check the monthly cost at a high interest rate before you bid, not the low one you have now. Work it through in the mortgage calculator before the viewing, not after.
I will cover the money you need, the loan you can get, what you actually buy and what it costs to live there. The goal is for you to walk into the first viewing already knowing your number.
The down payment
The down payment (kontantinsats) is the part of the price you must pay yourself; the bank lends the rest as a mortgage. Since April 2026 the minimum is 10% of the price, because the mortgage cap rose so a bank may lend up to 90 percent. On a home priced at two million that means at least 200,000 kr in cash. You cannot borrow the down payment itself with an ordinary mortgage, so it has to come from savings, a gift or selling something you own. A larger down payment than the minimum lowers both your interest rate and your amortisation requirement, so it often pays to save up a bit more.
Loan-to-value and the amortisation rules
Your loan-to-value ratio (belaningsgrad) is how much of the home's value you have borrowed. It sets how much you must amortise, that is, pay off the loan each year. The amortisation rules come in steps: borrow over 70 percent of the value and you must amortise at least 2 percent of the loan a year, and over 50 percent at least 1 percent.
Until April 2026 there was also a tougher rule that added another 1 percent if you borrowed more than 4.5 times your gross annual income. That one is gone, so the loan-to-value steps are what decide your amortisation now. It can still sound strict, but amortisation is not a cost the way interest is: it is saving that builds your own equity in the home. It still makes the monthly amount higher, and that is something to count on from the start.
What the bank really asks: KALP
Before the bank says yes it runs a KALP calculation, "left to live on". It takes your income minus every cost, including the mortgage, and checks that enough is left to live on. The catch is that the bank does not use today's interest rate but a much higher stress rate, often around 6 to 7 percent, to see that you cope even if rates rise. That figure is what sets your ceiling, not what you actually pay today. That is why you can be turned down for a loan that looks cheap right now. Test your own calculation in the mortgage calculator before you start bidding.
Bostadsratt, hyresratt or a house?
A rental (hyresratt) you do not own, you rent it, so no down payment or loan is needed. A tenant-owned flat (bostadsratt) means you buy the right to live in a flat and become a member of an association; you do not own the walls but a share in the association, and pay a monthly fee for the running costs. A house you own outright, with all the responsibility and cost that brings. For a bostadsratt the association's finances matter just as much as the flat: an association with large loans can raise the fee sharply. If you are thinking bostadsratt, read the annual report, or let the BRF analyser do the heavy lifting.
The estate-agent process
The estate agent (maklare) is hired by the seller, not by you, so friendly but not your adviser. The sequence is usually: get a loan promise from the bank first (then you and the seller know you are for real), go to the viewing, then join a bidding round that usually runs by text or phone. Win the bidding and you sign a contract, pay a deposit (often 10 percent) and set a completion date when the rest is paid and you get the keys. Set your ceiling before the bidding and hold it; it is easy to get swept a few hundred thousand higher when it moves fast.
Hidden costs: pantbrev and lagfart
Buy a house and two one-off costs surprise many people. The title deed (lagfart) is the proof that you own the property and costs 1.5% of the purchase price. Mortgage deeds (pantbrev), which the bank requires to lend against the house, cost 2% of the pledged amount (beyond what already exists from a previous owner). On a house at three million that can run well over a hundred thousand kronor on top of the down payment. Tenant-owned flats avoid these fees; there you pay a small transfer fee instead.
The real monthly cost
The cost of living somewhere is more than the interest. For a bostadsratt: interest on the loan, amortisation, the association fee and the running costs (electricity, home insurance, internet). For a house you swap the fee for your own running costs: heating, water, refuse collection, maintenance. One thing that softens the interest is the interest deduction: you get back 30% of your mortgage interest up to 100 000 kr as a tax reduction, so the real interest cost is lower than it looks. Always work on the whole monthly cost, with amortisation and at a high interest rate, before you decide what you can afford.
My recommendation
Start at the right end: work out your number before you fall in love with a home. Put in the down payment you have, use a high interest rate in the calculation, and see what the monthly cost is with amortisation counted in. Then you know your ceiling, and avoid both dreaming too high and regretting it after the bidding. A home you can afford even when rates rise is always a better buy than the finest one you barely manage today. Do the sums in the mortgage calculator first of all.