Here in the States 30 years is about the longest mortgage term people get. I know there are longer terms, but the trend seems to be leaning towards shorter terms, like 15 years. So I was kind of shocked when I saw this:

While extending a mortgage of €400,000 from 35 years to 40 years makes monthly repayments more affordable to the tune of €100 or so a month, it means that one pays back an extra €60,000 over the term of the mortgage (assuming a generous average interest rate of 4%, according to this calculator). Great deal for the banks but I wonder do their customers realise that they’ll end up paying €800,000 for their €400,000 home.

200 OK

40 years for a mortgage? Yikes! Does this seem like a long time to anyone else?