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PROPERTY

These are Sweden’s most expensive rental apartments

Where is the most expensive rental apartment in Sweden? Perhaps surprisingly, it's not in Stockholm. Here's a look at the ten most expensive rentals from 2019.

Published: 27 February 2020 15:18 CET
Updated: 1 March 2020 09:31 CET
These are Sweden's most expensive rental apartments
Gothenburg is home to the most expensive rental apartments in Sweden, according to data from 2019. Photo: Per Pixel Petersson/Imagebank.sweden.se

The most expensive home rented out in Sweden in 2019, at 32,160 kronor ($3,325) per month, was a seven-room apartment in central Gothenburg, according to property magazine Hem&Hyra, run by the tenant owners' union Hyresgästföreningen. 

The newly renovated apartment at Kungsportsavenyen 37 was almost 6,000 kronor more expensive than the second rental on the list, which is located in the same building. The building was built in 1897 and is situated along Gothenburg's iconic boulevard, often simply called Avenyn (The Avenue). 

The top ten priciest rentals, according to Hem&Hyra's analysis of 2019 data from housing associations and municipal companies in Sweden's five largest municipalities, were found in the most affluent areas of Sweden's three major cities, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö.

But there were also very expensive apartments on the rental market elsewhere.

Last year a five-room apartment in central Uppsala went on the market for 19,817 kronor a month. In Linköping another apartment brought in close to 19,000 kronor each month. 

Top 10 most expensive rental apartments in Sweden

  1. Kungsportsavenyen 37, Gothenburg. 7 room. Rent: 32,160 kronor
  2. Kungsportsavenyen 37, Gothenburg. 5 room. Rent: 26,783 kronor
  3. Vasagatan, Gothenburg. 6 room. Rent: 25,773 kronor
  4. Marietorps allé 3A, Malmö. 7 room. Rent: 25,759 kronor
  5. Husarviksgatan 18, Stockholm. 6 room. Rent: 25,549 kronor
  6. St Paulsgatan 10, Stockholm. 7 room. Rent: 25,059 kronor
  7. Götabergsgatan, Gothenburg. 6 room. Rent: 25,000 kronor
  8. Köpenhamnsvägen 95, Malmö. 6 room. Rent: 23,426 kronor
  9. Valhallavägen 96, Stockholm. 7 room. Rent: 22,645 kronor
  10. Köpenhamnsvägen 93A, Malmö. 5 room. Rent: 22,635 kronor

Source: Hem&Hyra Data: Statistics from the five largest municipalities in Sweden. Not all private landlords are connected which means that more expensive rental apartments may have been mediated outside of the list.

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How much is 'normal'?

In 2019 the average monthly rent in Sweden for a three-room apartment was 7,147 kronor ($739), according to Statistics Sweden.

But there are large variations depending on where you live.

In a municipality with fewer than 75,000 inhabitants, a family pays on average 1,600 kronor less for a three-room apartment than a household in Stockholm does.

And these statistics only take into account so called 'first-hand' contracts, which are subject to rent controls. These contracts in Sweden are in most cases given on a first-come, first-serve basis which means that you join a queue and are given priority based on your position in that queue.

In larger cities it's often impossible to find a first-hand contract without having first spent years, or even a decade or more, in the queue. In larger cities it can take many years in this queue to be eligible for a first-hand contract, so sub-letting or 'second-hand renting' is common. 

Renting in Sweden

Recent figures show a slow increase in available housing, but the shortage is still felt nationwide, and is especially problematic in the larger cities. The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket) reports that 240 of Sweden's 290 municipalities has a housing shortage.

Municipal or state-regulated rental companies must abide by restrictions on how much they can charge in rent, based on aspects such as the number of rooms, quality of the apartment, location and proximity to services among others.

The Swedish Tenants Association negotiates rent for tenants who want collective bargaining, and in practice they negotiate levels of rent for 90 percent of Swedish rental apartments, which equates to over three million tenants.

A stated goal in their negotiations is that “rent should not exceed 25 percent of an average salary after taxes”. Based on the 2018 average salary of 34,600 kronor before tax each month, that would equate to a monthly rent of roughly 6690 kronor per person. 

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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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