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Business & Money

Sweden's average home price at 'record high'

Published: 7 Feb 13 15:13 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46066/20130207/

New housing figures reveal that would-be homeowners will be set back back 1 million kronor ($157,634) on average when buying a house anywhere in Sweden.

"All 21 counties now have an average price over 1 million kronor and that's the first time this has happened, I believe," Martin Verhage at Statistics Sweden's (SCB) told The Local.

Verhage said the developments were a surprise to the researchers, but pointed out that over the past two years, house prises in Sweden have crept up 2 percent nationwide.

SEE ALSO: Sweden's most expensive addresses

House prices increased in 17 out of 21 counties when compared to 2011. The counties that saw the biggest growth included Blekinge, Norrbotten and Uppsala - all of which shot up by 6 percent in 2012.

Decreasing house prices, meanwhile, were reported in three counties. The largest being in Gotland by 4 percent, followed by Kalmar at 2 percent.

As for the nation's most populated counties, prices in Greater Gothenburg and Greater Stockholm increased by 4 and 3 percent respectively, while prices decreased in Greater Malmö by 1 percent.

Sweden's highest average home price was in Stockholm, at just over 3.7 million kronor, with Västernorrland the lowest at just over 1 million kronor.

SEE ALSO: Check out the latest home listings in The Local’s Property Section

SEE ALSO: Find your next home with The Local’s Rentals Section

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19:15 February 7, 2013 by rohermoker
1 Millino Kr ($160,000) that is called AFORDABLE here in Minnesota. Prior to the price colapse it was not uncommon to see the "low" cost homes going for $250,000.
19:40 February 7, 2013 by bjorkon
Sadly in Sweden it will cost you more than that to build the average home due to massive labour costs. So in real terms a bargain!
20:43 February 7, 2013 by Beavis
1 million kr is still a bargain. compare it to Dublin where the average is still 3 million even after 60% has been knocked off due to a crash in Dublin Ireland, and those houses are made of cardboard
04:20 February 8, 2013 by AndrewDoyle
That is extremely cheap. Here in Perth, Australia you will not find a house near civilization under $300,000 and even then, you are going to be in a somewhat undesirable area or in a house that needs some serious renovations. Sweden truly has it good.
07:19 February 8, 2013 by just a question
This is the new slavery. Pay for the rest of your life a house that doesn't cost not even half of its price. It is happening everywhere. It could be worse, for example in Norway or Denmark houses are more expensive. The human being has been and will always be a stupid creature.
07:33 February 8, 2013 by karex
If it were just the housing prices increasing a bit it wouldn't really be a big problem. But taken into context, the situation takes on a different light. Fuel for instance, is not subsidized here as it is in the US. The labor costs are very high so are energy and worst of all food. Never mind the high taxes, all of which increase disproportionately with regards to wages. Sweden has never been known for being a country which is attractive wage-wise, and top that with salaries not keeping pace with the rise in the cost of living in recent years, the entire picture paints a difficult scenario.
10:04 February 8, 2013 by FlidmcFlid
Karrex (#6): I think you'd be surprised actually if you read the latest UBS report on wages in Sweden (specifically Stockholm) vs. take home wages and prices of goods and services within a country.

In the latest comparison of purchasing power around the world, UBS found that Stockholm (where New York was set at 100) had prices 91.9 of New York and if including rent 81.9 showing that prices are actually lower than New York. When take home wages are taken into account, Stockholm is 78.1 to New York (100). So in reality, Stockholm is slightly cheaper and people get paid slightly less than New York making it overall only slightly more expensive to the average family - and this is before social welfare supplements and other such indices are considered. The full report is listed on the UBS website. It also lists average salaries of various workplaces - which I think you'll find rather enlightening.
10:08 February 8, 2013 by ShaunD
Here in rural Dalarna the average price in the village where I live is around 380,000kr or $59,300 !!! Great if you purchasing a house but bad news if you are trying to sell one !
13:22 February 8, 2013 by karex
#7 Sounds interesting, but picking out large cities is not representative of the country. Stockholm and New York are cities where a large number of high wage earners concentrate. The rest of the country sees lower wages with equivalent costs. Fuel, energy, food and taxes are not lower in other places, but wages are. Plus social benefits are largely funneled to parts of society and in general terms not evenly spread. If you're not on temporary or permanent disability, unemployed, or bearing children you don't see much in terms of social benefits.
15:59 February 8, 2013 by Rishonim
The reality is that in the rest of the world when you buy a home you pay the loan premium while in Sweden you only pay the interest. In conclusion owning a home in Sweden is no big deal as it is affordable to anyone with a proper credit score.
16:08 February 8, 2013 by FlidmcFlid
#9. Of course it isn't totally representative, however, if you look at the matrix that UBS used to calculate their wages/costs you'll see they mostly calculated from low level white collar and blue collar jobs such as mechanics, factory workers and desk workers using their net salaries to judge whether prices vs. wages were unbalanced. Unless there is a massive difference between factory workers and teachers across the country (given that house prices and rent tend to be peoples largest outgoings along with transport and food) I find it hard to believe that the average person wouldn't be better off outside big cities than in them, hence why they focus on the most expensive parts of the country. I know that in my line of work I'd be paid the same or more outside Stockholm and my outgoings for transport and accommodation would be less.

As for social welfare, medical care falls under that umbrella too, don't forget. That is a massive outgoing for many households without socialised medicine.
15:52 April 13, 2013 by zcotty
These are riduculous prices when compared to Sweden's neighbor Finland. You have to go out pretty far into nowhere to get a crappy house for 120 000 €.
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