Finding a place to live is usually the toughest challenge faced by anyone moving to Sweden with work. Unfortunately for newbies, the property market in major Swedish cities has never been hotter. With rents sky rocketing and money still available cheaply, it often makes sense to buy rather than rent in Sweden, even for those recently arrived in the country. However, you really do need to do your research first.
Today we start the first in a series of tips about the property market in Sweden, starting with how to find out the actual sold price of properties or neighbourhoods that you are interested in.
What’s the best source of information?
The best single source of information about properties for sale or sold in Sweden is the website Hemnet. More or less all Swedish properties are advertised on this site and it’s compulsive viewing for anyone interested in property, which nowadays seems to be just about everyone in Sweden. Swedes spent a total of 36 MILLION hours on this website in 2016, or put another way, 11 years every day! Whether you want to find out how much a particular property on your street sold for or general prices in a particular area, you will find the information you need on this website.
Keyword
The keyword you need to know is “Slutpriser”. This means the final prices or sold prices; not to be confused with “slut prices” – there’s absolutely nothing casual about property prices in Swedish cities! You will find the option for “Slutpriser” if you click on “Bostadsstatistik” on the main menu. Alternatively, you can use the following direct link.
What are your search options?
Hemnet offers a great array of search options:
- Graphically – By Google search Map
- By area (Område) – you can search by street address, municipality, town or city.
- By property type (Bostadstyp)
- Detached house (Villa)
- Terraced house/ non-detached house (Radhus)
- Apartment (Bostadsrätt),
- Holiday homes (Fritidshus)
- Plot of land (Tomt)
- Land/forrest (Gård /Skog)
- Miscellaneous (Övrigt)
- By number of rooms (Rum)
- By size i.e. area is metres squared – (Boarea)
- By monthly fee (Avgift)
- By final price (Slutpris)
- By date sold i.e. sold within the last 3, 6 or 12 months (Såld inom de senaste)
What do the search results show?
Your search results will typically show the size of the property in metres squared, the number of rooms, the final price and the date sold.
Handy feature
A very handy feature of the search result for “sold prices”is the addition of an arrow on the right hand side of the search result, beside the final price (slutpris). This arrow points up or down, showing if the final price exceeded or fell short of the asking price, all handily worked out in percentage terms and colour coded in green or red for increases and decreases respectively.
Red hot prices
A quick glance at the final property prices shows that advertised prices are often just a suggestion or guide price. Unlike property markets in many countries where sellers hope to achieve the price advertised, property in Swedish cities is often sold for well over the asking price.
Need advice on the property market?
Whether you want some advice on how the buying process in Sweden works, getting a mortgage, up and coming areas, neighbourhoods to avoid or simply some perspective on the Swedish property market, you can contact Relocate to Sweden for a consultation.
Make sure you have the best mortgage
A hot tip if you already have a mortgage, is to sign up to Påmind*. This is a free service that keeps track of a lot of different types of contracts and negotiates better prices. Types of contracts they handle are mobile subscriptions, electricity contracts, mortgages, car insurance, broadband, home insurance, private loans. According to Påmind, their users save an average of 2000 sek per year. So definitely worth a try.
Written by Anne Pihl
An Irish expat in Stockholm. I moved to Sweden in 1998 with my Swedish husband and new-born daughter after living and working in England, Germany and Ireland. With nearly two decades of experience of living, working and raising a family in Sweden, I now help other expats moving to Sweden through my relocation company.
