Swedish transport chiefs back new Öresund link – but not yet

A new transport link between Sweden and Denmark is not yet needed, according to an analysis by the Swedish Transport Administration. 

“There is a societal benefit to developing new infrastructure across the strait. But we see no need for capacity reasons until in the very long term,” Lars Brümmer, Transport Administration strategist and project manager, told a press conference on Monday.

The Transport Administration believes that the Öresund Bridge will have enough rail capacity for another 25 years. The more urgent measures to improve the connection between the two countries are all land-based, including two new tracks between Hässleholm and Lund, as well as increasing capacity north of Hässleholm. That should be prioritised over new links across the Öresund Strait, it argues.

According to the Transport Administration’s report, the biggest threat to the railway connection across the Öresund in the short term is border checks, which have slowed down journey times between Copenhagen and Malmö.

Swedish vocabulary: a reason – ett skäl

Swedish new businesses drop 27 percent on peak year

A total of 29,384 businesses were started in Sweden in the first half of 2024, according to statistics from the Swedish Companies Registration Office reported by invoicing company Visma. That’s a decrease of nine percent compared to the same period 2023.

Västerbotten in northern Sweden was the only region that bucked the train, with growth of one percent. But at the other end of the scale, in Uppsala and Kronoberg the number of new startups decreased by 24 and 23 percent, respectively.

Sweden has been on a steady downward curve since the peak in 2021, when 40,108 businesses were started in the first six months of the year. 

Visma believes that unstable global geopolitics are a major factor behind the slowdown.

“It’s very serious that new businesses continue to decrease, because four out of five jobs are created in small and medium-sized businesses. More businesses need to be launched in the Swedish recession, not fewer,” said Visma business expert Boo Gunnarson in a statement.

Swedish vocabulary: a business/company – ett företag

Swedish property prices rise sixth month in a row

Swedish property prices rose for the sixth consecutive month in June.

Figures from state-owned mortgage bank SBAB and property site Booli indicate an increase of 0.2 percent in June, or 0.5 percent if adjusted for seasonal effects. In other words, property prices have increased 6.6 percent since the turn of the year, buoyed by falling interest rates.

The price of a detached home rose 0.3 percent in June and 0.6 percent for apartments, adjusted for seasonal effects.

That’s a bigger rise than normal for detached homes in the month of June, when activity normally slows as summer begins.

Swedish vocabulary: property prices – bostadspriser 

Swedish town puts one-krona plot campaign on hold after media frenzy

When Götene, a quiet lakeside municipality in Western Sweden, launched a campaign in April to sell plots of land for one krona per square metre, they never could have guessed that they’d be fielding thousands of calls from across the world a few months later.

All the media attention has put Götene municipality into “crisis mode”, mayor Johan Månsson told The Local, describing the situation as “like winning the lottery”. There are only one or two people manning the phone lines, which have been ringing constantly for the past week.

“It’s impossible to handle, we’ve had to pause the campaign until August 7th so we can catch up with all the expressions of interest.”

The media interest has also resulted in “millions of kronor worth of marketing” for Götene, Månsson said, with CNN describing the lakeside region as “idyllic” and “rural Sweden at its finest”.

“I’m not convinced that those of us working in the region or the people living here have really taken in what’s happening and what has happened,” he said. “I think it will take a while before we do. It’s fantastic.”

Swedish vocabulary: one krona – en krona (or if you’re talking about a one-krona coin, en enkrona)