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Riksbank rejects Swedish housing bubble fears

Sweden's central bank does not believe the country is in the midst of a housing bubble, saying in a report published Tuesday that rapidly rising housing prices are due to natural developments in the market.

Riksbank rejects Swedish housing bubble fears

The last few years have seen a rapid growth in housing prices in Sweden and there have been worries that the bubble is about to burst.

But in a report published Tuesday the Riksbank attributed the rapid growth to ‘natural developments’.

“The income development of Swedish households has been good, interest rates have fallen and the supply of properties has not increased much,” the Riksbank wrote in its report.

Nevertheless, there are no indications that the market will slow down and finance minister Anders Borg showed some concern regarding recent developments in Sweden’s residential property market.

“The housing market seems to have entered a more stable stage, but we will have to keep an eye on what happens in the near future,” Borg said to news agency TT.

He pointed out that certain measures already had been taken such as amortization requirements, mortgage ceilings, and some increases to interest rates.

Borg also indicated that more funding might go to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) to keep banks in order.

“We certainly have reason to take a closer look at the Financial Supervisory Authority’s resources. We’ve found ourselves in a situation with a very good financial supervisory system and they’ve also have shown themselves to be ready to take tough decisions, but in an international perspective and when it comes to resources they can be seen as undersized,” Borg told daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

According to SEB analyst Elisabet Kopelman, it would have been surprising had the Riksbank announced the existence of a housing bubble in Sweden. However, she said that the bank is concerned about developments on the housing market.

“I don’t think this is going to have an effect on monetary policy in the near future. At the same time it is clear that the Riksbank will continue to monitor this closely,” she said to TT.

But the Riksbank’s new report did little to assuage the fears of Bengt Hansson, an analyst at the National Housing Credit Guarantee Board (Bostadskreditnämnden).

He believes housing prices will fall by 20 percent in the near future.

“There has been a bubble for a few years now. What we are waiting for is the shock that will make prices go back to normal,” he told TT.

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RENTING

Danish police warn students against housing scams

Police in Denmark have advised new students to be alert to scams when looking for rented accommodation.

Danish police warn students against housing scams

The special police unit for economic crime, NSK, has warned students over bad actors in the rental housing sector as they look for somewhere to live prior to commencing their studies.

Thousands of students were last week offered places at Danish universities, meaning that rental housing in university towns is set to be in high demand.

But scammers take advantage of an affordable housing shortage in cities like Copenhagen, police said as they warned students over the matter.

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“Every year we have housing scammers who cheat people into paying a deposit or advance rent for an apartment that doesn’t exist,” Kresten Munksgaard, head of section for Prevention and Analysis with NSK, told the Ritzau newswire.

Munksgaard said that a good rule of thumb is that if an offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

“If you see a mega-cheap, three-room apartment in Copenhagen at a very low price, then you should be be extra careful because unfortunately, those don’t grow on the trees,” he said.

Police recommend would-be tenants always go out and see the apartment in person and always ask the landlord to show ID. That enables them check whether the person is the real owner of the home using public records (tinglysningen in Danish).

“If you are transferring money, use an electronic money transfer so there is a money trail to follow if you are unlucky enough to be scammed,” Munksgaard also said.

Police received 201 reports last year of rental housing scams, according to NSK.

The majority of those affected live in the Copenhagen police district.

The housing shortage also impacts international students in Copenhagen, who often struggle to find affordable housing.

As recently reported by The Local, international students – already at the disadvantage of navigating a new country and system – can be pushed so far on to the fringes of the rental market that they end up living at informal tenancies and registering their addresses elsewhere, putting themselves in a vulnerable legal grey area.

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