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Here’s how the price of summer houses in Sweden has changed

Prices for summer houses in Stockholm have climbed steadily over the past 12 months -- despite a tough year for the Swedish housing market in general.

Published: 4 June 2018 15:35 CEST
Here's how the price of summer houses in Sweden has changed
A view out of a summer house window. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

The price of a fritidshus (the official term for a summer or holiday house, also called ‘sommarstuga’) in Sweden has risen by a huge 40 percent over the last five years.

Even over the past year alone, which has seen apartment prices plummet, the cost of a summer house has continued to climb, with an average eight percent increase across the whole country, according to Svensk Mäklarstatistik which provides data on Swedish real estate.

“The strong development in the housing market in recent years has made it possible for many to be able to borrow money on their existing homes to invest in holiday homes,” explained Tanja Ilic, CEO at estate agent Svensk Fastighetsförmedling which analyzed the figures. While a new amortization requirement could stunt this trend, summer houses are likely to remain an attractive prospect for affluent buyers.

Those buying a summer house between May 2017 and April 2018 spent an average of 1,664,315 kronor on the property, the same statistics show, though the average price varied across the country.

The municipality where summer house prices have increased the most is Hudiksvall in Gävleborg, where summer houses got 29 percent more pricey over the past 12 months.

The next steepest increases were observed in the municipalities of Berg in Jämtland, northern Sweden (29 percent), Gävle (26 percent), Älvdalen in central Dalarna (22 percent) and Strömstad in Västra Götaland (17 percent). 


The Drottningholm Palace on Ekerö. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

In the Stockholm area, prices rose by an average of seven percent over the past year, but in the lakeside area of Ekerö, that number was much higher at 26 percent.

The areas in Greater Stockholm where summer house prices have remained most stable are in Österåker and Södertälje — with the latter boasting the cheapest fritidshus in the whole region. The average Stockholm holiday house was relatively expensive (2,543,194 kronor), but there were significant differences across the region, ranging from 1,701,600 kronor in Södertälje to 4,315,146 in Värmdö.

Skåne in southern Sweden is another very popular area for holiday homes due to the proximity of both Lund and Malmö and the many beaches and charming villages in the area. There, the price increase over the past year was above the nationwide average, at 11 percent. Across the whole area, Hässleholm saw the biggest rise last year at 27 percent, though the average summer house in the area came with a relatively low price tag: an average of 956,296 kronor, around two thirds of the Skåne average of 1,480,129 kronor.

In Västra Götaland, the average summer house price has increased by six percent. The most significant rises in the past 12 months took place in Strömstad and Tanum, however over the past five years, these areas had seen a less dramatic increase than most other municipalities. The island of Tjörn was the only municipality in the region that saw a drop in prices over the past year, with the average cost falling by five percent.

Since last August, apartment and house prices across Sweden have been falling after years of steady growth. Over the past few months, the average apartment price (measured in cost per square metre) fell by an average of 7.2 percent across Sweden.

IN DEPTH: The story of Sweden's housing crisis

 

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PROPERTY

INTERVIEW: ‘Most foreigners in Sweden don’t know they can get back excess rent’

In Sweden, people subletting apartments are not allowed to charge more in rent than they themselves pay. But foreign subtenants don't always know this. We asked Roland Sjölin, lawyer at the Swedish Tenants' Association, about how to get back excess rent.

Published: 18 April 2024 15:19 CEST
Updated: 21 April 2024 08:12 CEST
INTERVIEW: 'Most foreigners in Sweden don't know they can get back excess rent'

More and more of the people asking the Swedish Tenants’ Association, Hyresgästföreningen in Swedish, for help with excess rent are foreigners, Sjölin told The Local in an interview.

“The problem is that if you’re coming from another country, and you’re subletting an apartment, you’re probably not familiar with the rules in Sweden, because in other countries, it might be okay to overcharge your tenants.” 

He said that clients from India in particular seeking help from the association were now “very common”. 

“Many people come here to work as engineers in the IT sector and then have to rent somewhere,” he said, adding that as a group Indians appeared to be “very aware of their rights.”

Sweden’s rental sector is heavily regulated, with first hand contracts negotiated between landlords and the Tenants’ Association, and the rent that can be charged for second-hand contracts limited to only a small fraction above what the first-hand renter pays. 

“You’re not allowed to make any profit subletting an apartment in Sweden,” Sjölin explains. “You can only charge the subletting tenant the same rent as you [the first-hand tenant] are paying to your landlord, and then you can add the costs for internet and electricity, and perhaps a parking lot, if that is included.” 

Tenants’ Association lawyer Roland Sjölin. Photo: supplied.

You can also add a påslag or “markup”, if you are renting out the apartment fully furnished, but this cannot exceed more than 15 percent of the rent. 

That doesn’t mean that most landlords follow the law. The competition for rental apartments, especially in Stockholm, is so intense, that unscrupulous sublet landlords often try to get away with charging well over the legal amount, charging what is known in Sweden as ockerhyra, or “excess rent” and hoping that their tenants are too desperate to complain.  

What many foreigners do not realise is that even after the rental period is over, they can still get back any excess rent they have paid by applying to the Rental Board or Hyresnämnden, which functions like a court judging rental disputes. 

“If you have the evidence then it’s fairly easy,” Sjölin said. “I get a new case every second week on repayment of unfair rent, and I think that I win most of them.” 

“Nowadays, you can get paid back excess rent up to 24 months back in time, so people tend to get more money,” he added. “In some cases, they can get 200,000 kronor. In other cases, perhaps it’s only 30,000 kronor or 60,000 kronor. It depends on how long you have rented the apartment, and how excessive the rent you’ve been paying has been.”

The first step is to establish what would have been a fair rent, either by asking your landlord what they themselves pay directly or by checking with the Tenants’ Association.

“Because we negotiate most rents in Sweden, we normally know what the firsthand rent is,” Sjölin explained.

Then you need to collect together your evidence.

“It’s a good thing to have a written contract and also papers from your bank showing that you paid rent every month, and perhaps photographs of the apartment, so the rental board can get an idea of the apartment you were renting and what would be a fair rent, and also the termination for the contract so you can show the court how long you’ve been living in the apartment.” 

But Sjölin underlined that since Sweden has free burden of evidence, none of this is essential. 

“Even if you’ve been paying in cash, if you have witnesses who can testify what you were paying each month, you still have a chance of getting your money back. It’s a bit more tricky, but I’ve won two cases like that this year.” 

People in Sweden, he explained, tend to wait until the rental period is over before seeking to get paid back excess rent rather than challenging their landlord while they are still living in the apartment. 

“You don’t have any legal protection for your home for the first two years, so if you bring the matter up with the person you’re renting the apartment from you risk losing your contract and having to move out, so most people wait until they’re supposed to move anyway,” he said.

If you apply to the rental board for a refund close to the day you move out, you can then make your landlord pay back all excess rent paid in the 24 months leading up to the date you contacted the rental board.

If you are a member of the Tenants’ Association, you can contact them and ask for help with your application, but there are also specialist companies, like Orimlig Hyra AB who will buy your case off you and give you a refund within 48 hours, saving you a long wait in exchange for a cut of the money reclaimed. 

Sjölin said that the rental board normally took about 8 months to come to a judgement, but that if the person with the first hand contract appeals, that could extend the waiting time by between six months and a year.

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