Negative mortgages set another milestone

Cheap mortgages: Employees work on the trading floor at Nordea Bank Abp in their office in Stockholm, Sweden. The bank is offering 30-year mortgages at an annual interest of just 0.5%. — Bloomberg

LONDON: The world’s headlong dash to zero or negative interest rates just passed another milestone: A bank in Denmark is paying homebuyers to take out mortgages.

Jyske Bank A/S, Denmark’s third-largest lender, announced in early August a mortgage rate of minus 0.5%, before fees. Nordea Bank Abp, meanwhile, is offering 30-year mortgages at annual interest of just 0.5%.