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Swedish town and ski resort for sale

Ski-loving real estate investors interested in rubbing elbows with royalty may want to venture north to the Swedish village of Storlien, which is on the market for 365 million kronor ($45.6 million).

Published: 26 November 2008 15:25 CET
Swedish town and ski resort for sale

The offer price includes a ski resort featuring 24 runs and nine lifts, two hotels, and 2,900 hectares of land in a location where the Swedish royal family owns a vacation home.

“That adds a touch of class to the whole thing. The buyer could christen the village ‘Royal Storlien’,” said estate agent Lennart Ekdahl to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

“It’s fun having something that is just a bit different.”

Ekdahl, whose Specialmäklarna Ekdahl & Co agency is in charge of promoting the deal, said he’s already heard from two parties who are interested in buying Storlien, which is currently owned by 62-year-old businessman Lars Nilsson.

Nilsson, a native of Helsingborg in southern Sweden, assumed ownership of Storlien about 10 years ago, in essence giving him control over the entire community.

But according to the Östersunds-Posten newspaper, Nilsson is conflicted about the proposed sale.

“In actuality, Storlien isn’t for sale. But if someone comes by and wants to pay 360 million kronor and doesn’t want to haggle, then I can imagine selling,” he told the newspaper.

In a conversation with The Local, Ekdahl added that Nilsson is hoping to attract investors to continue the development work he’s undertaken in the last decade.

“The growth potential is enormous,” he said, adding that Storlien is in a stage of development similar to where the nearby Åre ski resort was in the 1940s.

The massive swath of land is situated in Jämtland county, just across the border from Norway.

It also includes 20 lakes which generate 60,000 to 80,000 kronor a year in fishing licence fees, according to Ekdahl’s web listing of the property.

And if the 365 million kronor price tag is too much for a single investor, Ekdahl indicated it may be possible to split Storlien among various owners, although a single buyer is preferred.

The hotel, Storlien Högfjällshotell, has 200 rooms with about 500 beds, an indoor pool, nightclub and conference facilities and is available for 42 to 50 million kronor.

The actual ski area is expected to fetch 50 million kronor, while a second hotel, Lägenhetshotell, could have a new owner for about 42 million kronor.

The area’s proximity to Norway provides a steady stream of Norwegians shoppers looking for deals in comparatively cheap Sweden.

Ekdahl also hopes Storlien’s border location will attract potential buyers from Norway as well as Sweden.

“The proximity to Norway means there are a lot of opportunities for a Norwegian buyer. The [financial] crisis hasn’t hit as hard there,” he told Aftonbladet.

For members

PROPERTY

How to buy your own Swedish island

Ever felt like spending your summers lounging around on your own island? Or have you always wanted to build a James Bond-style supervillain fort in the middle of the Stockholm archipelago?

Published: 28 August 2024 11:25 CEST
Updated: 8 September 2024 05:57 CEST
How to buy your own Swedish island

How can I find an island for sale?

Perhaps surprisingly, you can find islands for sale in the same places you find other properties in Sweden, for example on property site Hemnet, or directly through an estate agent.

As you may expect, people who own their own islands often want to hang onto them, so they don’t come up for sale very often. 

If you’re still interested in finding your dream island, then try searching egen ö till salu (own island for sale), and be prepared that you’ll probably have to wait a while before one comes up in your ideal area.

You might also get lucky and be able to find a property which just happens to include a small island with it (for example, a property by a lake or by the sea), but there’s no guarantee that the island would be big enough to actually do anything with – and if it is, the price of the property would no doubt reflect this.

Can I build on it?

Islands usually fall into two categories: those where there is already some sort of house or building (like a lighthouse, for example), and those which are completely untouched. 

Bear in mind that the rules on building on islands are pretty strict. Firstly, you’ll need to apply for planning permission (yes, even if you own the whole island), which can be difficult.

Essentially, all Swedish coastlines are protected under strandskyddet (literally: “beach protection”), which means that they must be accessible to the public and cannot be built on or fenced off for private use. The exact area which must be protected varies, but as a general rule you’ll have to keep the shoreline accessible 100 metres inland – going up to 300 metres in some cases.

Under allemansrätten, the right to roam, members of the public must be able to access the coastline, so even if you have your own island which you build your own jetty on, you can’t stop people from turning up and mooring at your jetty to lounge on the rocks.

The only exception to this is if they’re so close to your home they disturb your hemfrid, literally “home peace”, for example if they’d be able to see into your property or would feasibly intrude on your private life.

The downside to this hemfrid rule is that it can sometimes get in the way of planning permission – if a rebuild or extension to your home would extend your hemfrid so much that it would encroach on the public right to access the coastline (even if it’s something as simple as putting in larger windows or building a small veranda), then your application could be rejected.

So essentially, you might need to forget about your dreams of a supervillain-style lair on your own private island.

How much does it cost?

Island prices vary wildly, depending on things like the size of your island, how close it is to a major city, and whether it has buildings or pre-approved planning permission. 

Expect to pay a couple million kronor for a larger island (like this one) close to Stockholm or Gothenburg (yes, even if you can’t build anything on it).

Lilla Kattskäret, an island in Norrtälje around an hour from Stockholm with a handful of small buildings and two separate jetties, sold in August for just under 10 million kronor.

If you’re right in the middle of the city centre, you might see islands listed with no price at all, like this island complete with summer house, guest house and another, smaller island. A stone’s throw from Drottningholm Palace – the home of the Swedish King and Queen – this might be a case of “if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it”.

And don’t forget – you’ll need your own boat to access it, too.

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