2017-10-13 18:30

Warning Signs Are Mounting for Sweden‘s Once-Hot Housing Market

REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
There‘s no shortage of warning signs that Sweden‘s housing market could be going from red-hot to icy cool.

At the most basic level, it‘s all about supply and demand. The number of apartments up for sale just hit a nine-year high, but the flood hasn‘t been followed by a gain in purchases.

There‘s also a massive increase in construction. Apartment starts jumped to 15,700 in the second quarter, the highest level since at least 1996. Total starts (multi-dwelling buildings and one- or two-dwelling properties) surged to 19,350, just shy of the peak at the end of 2006 (there was a rush to start projects then as the government decided to lower housing subsidies).

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