The bank margin continued to rise in the third quarter, reaching 252 basis points for the standard case. That represents an increase of 31 bps since the previous survey. The margin rose by 15 bps during the second quarter, which means it has climbed a total of 45 bps over the past six months.

At the same time as the bank margin rose, interest rates continued to rise sharply over the past quarter. Combining these effects gives us an increase in the overall borrowing rate of no less than 0.94 percentage points for new five-year loans with a full fixed interest rate. The overall cost of borrowing is 6.08 per cent. We have now had three quarters in a row with record-high increases in borrowing costs.