DENMARK'S JYSKE BANK: OFFERING MORTGAGES AT -0.5% INTEREST RATE TO THE DANISH PEOPLE - THEY'RE PAYING THEM TO OWN A HOUSE!

I must confess that I stumbled on this and somehow I couldn't leave it alone. Jyske Bank in Denmark is offering people -0.5% interest rate on their mortgage facilities! This means that if you took a $1 million loan from them to buy a house, you'd be required to pay back $995,000. How incredible!
Business Insider writes all about it and suggests that as appealing as it might be, there could be a rationale behind it. Financial markets are in a volatile, uncertain spot right now. Factors include the ongoing US-China trade war, Brexit, and a generalized economic slowdown across the world - and particulary in Europe. Many investors fear a substantial crash in the near future. As such, some Banks are willing to lend money at negative rates, accepting a small loss rather than risking a bigger loss by lending money at higher rates which customers cannot meet.
For me, I see this as a capital preservation tactic (with accepted minimal loss) which I think is reflective of the fearsome approach that most investors in Europe are beginning to adopt towards the financial market in light of the tense political and economic environment within the continent since recent years.

Meanwhile, the rates in Nigeria are no where near comfortable at all. Typical mortgage banks in Nigeria offer as high as a whooping 24% interest rate on their loans! The country's monetary policy rate currently stands at 13.5%. This is the rate at which Nigeria's central bank currently lends money to financial institutions operating within the country. Hence, it is needless to say that finding a mortgage facility in Nigeria below this rate is not easy. However, there is the National Housing Fund loan which is available at a fixed rate of 6% per annum with a long repayment period of up to 30 years. This fund s managed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, and is about the best mortgage facility that I currently know of in Nigeria in terms of rates.
But, how easily accessible, beneficial or not is this facility to the high number of unemployed and under-employed citizens of Nigeria? In April this year, President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to a bill that revised the National Housing Fund, complaining that the revision introduced some extra financial burdens on Nigerian workers, not to mention some new levies it also imposed on certain critical products such as cement which would definitely have resulted in a price hike. Mr Taiwo Oyedele, the Head of Tax and Regulatory Services at PwC Nigeria and Tax Leader for PwC West Africa wrote a very strong criticism of the bill at the time.