Price hike on the property market as spring hits
Spring appears to have sprung on the property market as prices have started to rise ahead of the new mortgage rules due to come in on April 1st.
New figures from Svensk Mäklarstatistik show a 1.2 percent price increase on apartments in February, which is the largest monthly increase since November last year, according to the TT newswire.
In central Stockholm, prices have gone up by 2.3 percent, hitting an average of 118,000 kronor per square metre.
"In central Stockholm we're more or less back at the peak levels we had previously," Marcus Svanberg, CEO of estate agent Länsförsäkringars fastighetsförmedling, told TT.
He added that changes on Stockholm property market are usually reflected slightly later in the rest of Sweden.
"We've had tax cuts, and there will be a cut on VAT [from April 1st]," he said, adding that improved household finances could be one of the reasons behind the rise.
The new mortgage rules from April 1st also mean that buyers will be able to put down a smaller deposit ‒ 10 percent instead of 15 percent ‒ and rules on amortisation will be loosened.
Swedish vocabulary: mera pengar i plånboken ‒ more money in your wallet
Prime minister calls for ban on social media for under-15s
Children under the age of 15 should not be on social media, according to the Moderates, and their party leader, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, wants to see a clear age limit put in place.
"It should be at least as secure as the age limit at Systembolaget," he said, referring to the state-owned alcohol monopoly where alcohol is only sold to people aged 20 or above.
The government has already launched a special inquiry to look into the possibility of introducing an age limit for social media, with the inquiry to present the first part of its findings in June.
The Moderates are now making it clear that their position is they want to see an age limit introduced.
"I think 15 years is natural," Kristersson said, adding that it should include large platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
"We'll have to look into that when the actual legislation is put together. I think it's better if the legislation is as similar as possible around Europe."
Swedish vocabulary: gräns ‒ limit
Swedish business owners concerned about impact of Iran war
A survey by the Företagarna organisation, Sweden's largest association of business owners, has shown that 45 percent of a total of 1,070 respondents were concerned about inflation as a result of the war in the Middle East, with 42 percent worried that their own company could be affected negatively.
Of those who predicted higher inflation, 56 percent thought that energy and fuel costs would hit them the hardest, with 40 percent listing higher prices for goods and materials.
"If costs start to spike, the government needs to be ready to roll up its sleeves and lower the costs for the country's business-owners," the association's CEO Magnus Demervall said in a statement.
A further 58 percent of respondents thought that Sweden's economic recovery would be delayed as a result of the war.
Swedish vocabulary: oroade ‒ concerned
Sweden Democrat leader calls for freeze on teen deportations
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson has called for the country’s controversial ‘teen deportations’ to be suspended with immediate effect until a solution has been found.
Åkesson told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper that he favoured an immediate suspension of the deportations.
“I think that would be the most reasonable, instead of rushing through something that doesn’t quite hit the mark either,” he said.
Sweden’s Migration Minister Johan Forssell, of the Moderate Party, has previously said he hopes to solve the teen deportation problem “as soon as possible” and that the government is working on a solution.
The so-called teen deportations, which The Local has been reporting on for many years, have recently received widespread critical attention in the Swedish press and from the Swedish public.
“The aim has never been for 18-year-old girls who are in high school and live at home with their mother and father to be sent to a country that their parents came from, or that they themselves moved from when they were very young,” Åkesson told DN.
Previous attempts by the centre-left opposition to halt the deportations until new legislation is in place have been rejected by right wing groups, including Åkesson’s own party.
Swedish vocabulary: utvisning ‒ deportation
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