Foreigners buying more Swedish summer houses: report

Foreigners own 33,168 summer houses in Sweden, an increase of four percent on 2008 and nine percent on 2007. Germans, Danes and Norwegians dominate the statistics, a new report shows.

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Foreigners own around six percent of the total number of Swedish residences categorised as holiday homes, farms, or small homes equipped for year-round dwelling

Levels of foreign ownership vary greatly on a regional basis, the new report from Statistics Sweden (SCB) shows.

Kronoberg county in southern Sweden is the area with the highest representation of foreign ownership - with 39 percent, while Värmland and Jönköping are also popular with 21 and 15 percent respectively.

In the Stockholm region, Gävleborg and Gotland, foreign owners are more conspicuous by their absence, owning less than one percent of the total.

Of the groups of foreign nationals, Danes are the most commonly represented with 11,294 registered property owners, followed by Germans with 9,957, and Norwegians with 8,086.

Among the smaller groups of foreign owners, the Dutch are also strongly represented with 1,308, while Brits own 422 properties and the Swiss 260.

The term foreign ownership applies to registered property owners not in possession of either a Swedish address or a Swedish personal identification number.