> mortgages which often come with an agreement that you won't pay it back within a number of years

Not "often". Prepayment penalty mortgages can exist but I've never seen or talked to anyone who has seen one in practice.

Some web searching suggests that only about 2% of home mortgages have prepayment penalty clauses.

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ipsento606 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Some web searching suggests that only about 2% of home mortgages have prepayment penalty clauses.

It's clear (to me) that you're talking about the US specifically, but it might not be clear to everyone.

Residential mortgages are highly idiosyncratic to the country you're talking about. Try getting a 30 year fixed rate mortgage in the UK.

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ratelimitsteve 2 days ago | parent [-]

is there somewhere where a majority or a plurality of mortgages come with a prepayment penalty?

	▲	globular-toast 15 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The UK.
	▲	mr_woozy a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		[dead]

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apercu 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In Canada (on many mortgages) you are only allowed to prepay a percentage per year, if you pay off your mortgage in a shorter window the financer claws back interest they would have made within that term.

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globular-toast 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It's standard in the UK and probably other parts of the world.