When The Local spoke to Götene’s mayor Johan Månsson on June 24th, the municipality was happy with the results of its campaign, selling three plots since April after receiving 20 expressions of interest. But as it turns out, that was just the beginning.

Local public broadcaster SVT Väst originally broke the story on June 24th. The same day, it was picked up in Swedish by the TT newswire and Aftonbladet, and in English by The Local. By the time CNN had picked up the story on June 28th, it had gone viral and the municipality had been inundated with thousands of requests, to the extent that they’ve had to pause sales until August 7th to catch up.

But how does the process actually work?

On paper, anyone is allowed to buy a plot – there are no restrictions as far as nationality or residency is concerned. In reality, however, there are a few things you should bear in mind if you are looking to snap up one of the plots.

Buying a plot won’t grant you the right to live in Sweden

You can’t get residency in Sweden just by buying land here, which means that if you want to relocate to Sweden from abroad for the long term, you’ll either need a residence permit if you’re a non-EU citizen, or you’ll need EU right of residence if you’re from the EU. 

The only group of people who can move to Sweden without needing to meet any requirements are Nordic citizens – that’s citizens of Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Norway, and Swedes.

• FACT CHECK: Can you get a residency permit if you buy property in Sweden?

You need a Swedish bank account to pay for the plot

You’ll also need a Swedish bank account to pay for the plot, so you’ll need to sort that out before you buy. There are certain online banks, like Wise and Revolut, which can offer Swedish bank details to people based outside of Sweden, but you may need to meet other requirements with them.

• Essential guide: How to set up your first bank account in Sweden

You need to build a permanent residence on it

If you’re successful in getting a plot, you should be aware that you’re committing to building a permanent home on it within two years from the purchase date.

You may be able to buy cheap land, but you’ll need to be able to afford to build a house there, as well as cover any additional fees for connecting electricity, sewage, water and internet.

Here’s a breakdown of the estimated fees provided by the municipality, and this doesn’t afford the cost of actually building the house:

• building permit fees (about 30,000 kronor, or around 2,850 US dollars)
• and connection fees for water and sewage (about 170,000 kronor, or 16,000 dollars)
• electricity (about 40,000 kronor, or 3,800 dollars)
• and high-speed internet (about 30,000 kronor, or around 2,850 dollars)

If you’re planning on taking out a mortgage to finance the home build, you should contact Swedish banks in advance in order to prove that you have the means to build a house. For non-EU citizens, you should be aware that some banks require you to have permanent residence or even citizenship in Sweden in order to qualify for a mortgage, so make sure to carry out these checks before you commit to buying land.

• READ ALSO: Can I get a Swedish mortgage without permanent residency?

If you don’t build a home on the land, you’ll have to pay a fine

You have two years to build a home on the plot, and if you don’t do so in time, not only will the plot of land return to the municipality, but you’ll have to pay a 100,000 kronor fine, too – that’s around 9,475 US dollars. You won’t be reimbursed for any work you’ve done on the plot, either.

You can buy a prefabricated home from a number of different suppliers – check sites like hustillverkare.nu, byggahus.se or hus.se for more information on this (in Swedish) – but be aware that even if you do this it can take longer than you expect for your home to be ready. 

If you don’t want to do any work on the house yourself, then the absolute cheapest option available, according to hustillverkare.nu, costs just under 1.4 million kronor (around 132,750 dollars), which will get you a one-bedroom home with an open-plan living room and kitchen, a bathroom and a laundry room.

If you’re willing to get stuck in, you can pay as low as 300,000 kronor (28,500 dollars) for a simple shell of a home, which you’ll need to assemble yourself. There are rules about what you can and can’t do yourself – electrics and plumbing will need to be carried out by a professional, and the cost of labour is expensive in Sweden – so bear that in mind when calculating the cost.

The article below, from The Local’s Nordic Editor Richard Orange, has useful information on the necessary steps needed when building your own home.

• READ ALSO: Here’s what I learned from building my own Swedish summer house 

High interest in plots could push up prices

International interest in the plots has been “crazy” since The Local was first to report the story in English, Götene’s mayor Johan Månsson told us.

The municipality has had so many applications to buy plots that it has paused sales until August 7th in order to catch up with demand. 

It’s also worth noting that the one krona per square metre price is a starting price, and if there are multiple people interested in a plot, then it will be sold via auction instead.

Still interested? You can take a look at available plots in Götene municipality here, with many listed at a 98 or 99 percent discount. Scroll down and click on Tryck här för att se aktuella tomter i…, with plots of land divided up by town or settlement.

You can contact the municipality if you have any questions regarding the campaign or to express interest in a plot here: miljo-ochbygglovnamnden@gotene.se.

Be aware that it’s summer in Sweden and many Swedes will be on holiday until the end of July at least, so you may not get a response until August.

Götene isn’t the first municipality to offer plots of land at such a discount.

Hylte municipality, around three hours to the south, launched a similar campaign earlier this year, offering 54 plots of land for just one kronor per square metre.

Hylte, like Götene, is a small municipality in need of new residents. Ronny Löfquist, chairman of Hylte municipality, described their campaign to public broadcaster SVT as a “great success”.