Swedish realtors grow more pessimistic on apartment prices

SWEDEN’S real estate agents expect no imminent reversal of one of the world’s biggest housing price declines that shaved some 15 per cent off the value of homes in the Nordic country.

A quarterly survey by state-owned lender SBAB shows that 32 per cent of respondents believe apartment prices will fall in the second quarter, compared with 28 per cent three months ago. A majority of realtors still bet that the market will trend sideways, while seeing an uptick in supply that won’t be matched by a similar rise in demand.

The survey comes days before the next rate decision by Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, whose rate increases have been a major factor behind a deep slump in property values that has paralleled those in Canada and Australia, among others. 

Swedish mortgage rates are typically changed with three-month intervals, which makes borrowers sensitive to policy shifts such as in the last year, when the Riksbank has taken its benchmark rate to 3 per cent from zero. 

SBAB’s survey shows that real estate agents expect a similar development for detached houses as for apartments, with 32 per cent of respondents expecting price tags on single-family homes to drop, and 56 per cent seeing a stagnant market. BLOOMBERG