Home construction loan

Loan for construction

  • A home construction loan that fits your needs

    You can apply for the loan for building a house, flat, holiday home or buy-to-let home.

  • Pay only interest on the loan during construction

    You can have a repayment holiday during construction: you pay only interest on the loan and start repayments when the building is completed.

  • OP bonuses on your loans

    If you are an OP cooperative bank's owner-customer, loans generate OP bonuses to you. For example, for home loan borrowers, the OP bonus benefit is often sizeable – up to hundreds of euros a year – and bonuses can be used for the payment of insurance premiums, among other things.

Start a home construction loan application or continue a previously started application.

Apply for a home construction loan

Approve a joint home construction loan application started by the other applicant.

Go to consent

 

Start a home construction loan application or continue a previously started application.

Apply for a home construction loan

Approve a joint home construction loan application started by the other applicant.

Give your consent

To apply for a home loan, you need an online bank user ID. If you don’t have a user ID with any bank, our Customer Service will help you. Contact our Customer Service

Cost calculator helps you to get an idea of your construction costs

It pays to begin preparing for a construction project, whether for building a single-family home or a holiday home, by outlining a rough estimate of the construction costs.

An instant cost calculator helps you to get an idea of your construction costs. The calculator asks you to provide information on the building, such as the name of the town/city, the size of the building, the heating and ventilation solutions, and the proportion of the construction work that you will order from a professional.

 

How can I obtain a home construction loan?

First get a cost estimate on the construction work from a professional and then send a loan application online. Contact us for financing as soon as your start planning so that our experts can tailor a home construction loan that suits your needs. At the same time, we will agree on the repayment method, and check that your insurance cover during construction is in order. 

Home construction loan is not restricted to building a home for yourself. You can also apply for the loan for building a holiday home or a buy-to-let home. You can also apply for the loan for buying a plot, provided that construction work on the plot will begin within a certain time limit.

Applying for a home construction loan

  1. Fill in a home loan application online
    If you’re applying for a loan together with another person, state it in your application. After you have sent the application, the other applicant needs to give their consent to it using the link above on this page.
  2. We will contact you
    Our specialist will discuss the loan with you, including collateral required for the loan.
  3. We’ll go through all the necessary details with you.
  4. You will get a loan offer that is binding on the bank.

Example calculation: Home loan is a one-off loan. Let's look at a home loan where the loan amount is 170,000 euros. The loan term is 20 years. The loan margin is 0.7%. Calculating with the 12-month Euribor of 4.116% (valid on 16 Aug 2023), the effective interest rate of this home loan will be 5.0%. In addition, a loan servicing fee of 2.50 euros will be charged each month. When the loan is drawn down, a one-off origination fee of 680 euros will be charged. The estimated total cost of the loan is 266,183.85 euros.

In this calculation, we assumed that the entire loan was drawn down at once, that the loan interest rate, fees and charges stay the same throughout the loan term and that the loan is repaid in equal payments of 1103.77 euros every month. The home loan is granted by an OP cooperative bank.

The loan is granted by an OP cooperative bank.

Applying for loan and collateral

You can fill in the loan application online even if you are not yet our customer. When you fill in the loan application, you do not yet need to know the exact price of the new home or other such details. The loan application is nothing more than an invitation to make an offer ‒ it does not bind you to draw down the loan.

In the loan application, we will ask you the following information:

  • your income, expenses and debts and their monthly charges, and those of other loan applicants, if any
  • information on your wealth.

After you have sent your application, we will contact you the following day.

Sufficient repayment capacity is required for granting the loan. We will check your credit history from the credit information register of Suomen Asiakastieto Oy when you apply for the loan.

Collateral

The collateral for a loan for building a detached house is usually the property being built, or the lease on the plot and the detached house located on the plot.

Although the collateral value of the property being built increases as the construction work progresses, you will initially usually need other collateral too, such as your current owner-occupied home, investment assets or other assets. You can apply for the bank's loan guarantee or a government guarantee as side collateral.

You can apply for OP’s credit guarantee to be used as side collateral for your home loan. The maximum amount of a loan guarantee is 50,000 euros per borrower(s) and home. It is valid for a maximum of 15 years.

Loan costs

Loan costs consist of the reference interest rate, the bank's markup and service fees related to loan repayment. In addition, the loan is subject to a processing charge when it is drawn down.

When you think of the amount of loan you wish to raise, you should reckon with not only the purchase price but also any other costs that you may incur, such as moving costs and transfer tax related to home buying. For instance, home buying is usually subject to such a tax (2% of the purchase price on shares in a housing cooperative and 4% of real properties).

Repaying the loan and securing repayment

We agree with you on a suitable monthly instalment and repayment method for your loan. The recommended maximum loan term is 20 years. The monthly loan repayment instalment should account for a maximum of 35% of your monthly net income and your repayment capacity should also tolerate a rise in interest rates. It is advisable to determine the size of your monthly instalment in such a way that you can also save some money for your future needs. If needed, you can also have a repayment holiday during which you will pay only interest on your loan.

The total home loan interest rate is made up of the reference interest rate and the bank's markup on the loan (margin). If you choose, say, the 12-month Euribor as the reference rate for your home loan, you will always know your total loan interest rate for the next 12 months.

OP-prime is another option for your loan's reference rate, the changes of which we announce to our borrowers at least 14 days before the change takes effect.

The most common loan repayment methods are equal payments and variable annuities.

Securing loan repayment

Anything unexpected can happen during a long loan term. Loan payment protection insurance is the most important insurance for home loan borrowers.  You can take it out for both a new or an existing loan – as individual cover or joint cover together with your co-borrower.

The insurance helps you meet loan repayment instalments if your fall ill or lose your job. The insurance pays the remaining loan in full if you die prematurely.

Owner-customer benefits through banking services and OP bonuses

Owner-customer benefits

  • As an owner-customer, you get 45% off on a current account, OP eServices and OP-Visa card. For owner-customers, the cost is €3.95/month. Normal charge €5.45/month. If you are under 26 years of age, you receive our daily banking services free of charge.
  • As our owner-customer, you can choose a long-term fixed interest rate for your new home loan throughout the loan's term, up to 25 years. This is how you can ensure that your interest charges for your home loan will remain unchanged throughout the loan term.

OP bonuses

OP bonuses are used for the bank’s service charges and insurance premiums.

Home builder’s insurance package
Make sure you are properly insured before construction begins. For a house kit, a turn-key house delivery, or a DYI solution, you should immediately take out a home insurance policy that includes general liability and legal expenses insurance. If you hire a construction firm to build your home, make sure they have valid liability insurance coverage.
Terms and conditions, and forms
Take a look at the terms and conditions governing loans, pledges and guarantees, and forms. You will accept the terms and conditions of the loan and collateral agreement at the time of signature.
The loan is granted by OP cooperative bank.
Näkymä olohuoneesta, jossa istuu mies. Lainakatto.

Maximum loan-to-value ratio

In this article, we will describe what is a maximum loan-to-value ratio, which refers to the amount of home loan you can apply for, and how you can calculate the amount of money you need to save before buying a home.