The Swedish National Housing Credit Guarantee Board, BKN, is a government agency under the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.
BKN has two fields of activities. The first is the role as the government’s expert agency in housing finance.
The second is a market participant issuing housing loan guarantees and to give certain other financial support.
Analysis
BKN is instructed by the government to keep track on housing finance matters and to contribute to increased knowledge within the field. BKN is also to exchange knowledge and experiences with actors in other countries.
Market participant
BKN administers government credit guarantee programmes for housing development. BKNs role is to promote housing policy and to work for effective guarantee provision for the financing of housing development by running its guarantee operations in a businesslike way within existing regulations. Government credit guarantees can be provided for loans advanced by financial institutions operating in Sweden. At the end of 2010 18 credit institutions were affiliated to BKN programmes.
A home purchase guarantee is a government guarantee that covers interest payments for first-time home-buyers. The purpose is to give support to households who want to buy a home but who have difficulty obtaining a mortgage (home loan) even though they have a long-term ability to pay.
A municipality that considers it needs help to reconstruct or reorganise its housing company can apply for support from BKN. Government support is only available if the municipality itself cannot bear the cost for the reconstruction and if other measures are not sufficient.
BKN also administers a government grant for municipal rent guarantees.