Stockholm house prices place 12th in global study

Sweden's capital Stockholm is the 12th most expensive city in which to buy a home, according to a major international study.

• Swedish apartment prices hit 'all-time high' (14 Dec 10)
• Swedish home prices continue upward climb (18 Nov 10)
• Containers proposed as student housing solution (12 Nov 10)

The study by the Global Property Guide shows that 17 of the 34 countries surveyed returned positive gains on house prices during the first nine months of the year, reported the Dagens industri daily.

Monaco is the most expensive city in the world in which to buy property, with an average square metre price of 407,000 kronor ($60,000).

London comes in second place on around 120,000 and Russia's capital Moscow comes in third alongside other high cost cities such as Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong with average prices in excess of 100,000 kronor.

Stockholm comes in 12th in a comparison of average 120 square metre-sized apartments across the cities, with current prices averaging 60,000 per square metres in central areas, according to Statistics Sweden (SCB).

According to the guide Latvia (Riga) was the faster climber among the countries considered in the third quarter, with year-on-year gains of 25 percent after a couple of tough years.

While prices have climbed the most in growth markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong, with double digit booms in Israel and Australia among others, the Nordic countries all showed stability returning small gains.

The Local reported last week that prices for apartments in Sweden had reached record highs in the last quarter.

Fuelled by housing shortages in the attractive areas of Sweden's major cities, prices have resumed their climb and estate agency Fastighetsbyrån dismissed talk of a housing bubble, with CEO Lars-Erik Nykvist arguing instead that as few bought homes for speculative purposes, the market is in balance.

According to Statistics Sweden, houses in Sweden have climbed in price by an average of 5 percent over the past 12 months, according to recently released figures.