Swedish real estate unexpectedly extends rebound in realtor data

A REBOUND in Swedish home prices unexpectedly gathered pace last month, casting doubt on most forecasters’ gloomy outlook for one of the world’s worst-hit housing markets.

Prices for apartments and single-family homes in March rose by 2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, compared with the average from the prior three months, a period used to smooth out volatility in the data, according to realtor organisation Svensk Maklarstatistik on Thursday (Apr 6). The last time both categories rose in the same month occurred a year ago.

The development contrasts with SBAB’s recent data that Sweden’s most severe housing slump in three decades had resumed in March after taking a pause. It’s also at odds with most economists’ views that the residential property market is set to decline by about 20 per cent from its peak, with the gloomiest projections seeing a quarter of home values wiped out. 

“That prices rose in March is somewhat surprising,” the organisation said. “At the same time, there is a pent-up need to move, so both sellers and buyers have perhaps begun to find each other at a new price level.” 

Over half of members in the housing brokers’ lobby group believe that prices will remain unchanged during the second quarter, it added.

The improvement puts the peak-to-trough slide in apartment prices at 10 per cent, with detached house prices down 14 per cent, according to Maklarstatistik. Market volumes remain thin, as apartment sales fell 27 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, and 19 per cent fewer houses changed owners, the organisation said. BLOOMBERG