Swedish housing market fights off tighter rules amid rally

Stockholm

SWEDISH housing price gains accelerated last month as the red-hot market fought off measures that are forcing homeowners to pay down their mortgages faster.

Apartment prices jumped 3 per cent in September, following a one per cent gain in August and a decline of one per cent in July, according to Svensk Maklarstatistik AB. House prices rose one per cent, after being unchanged in the prior two months, it said in a statement on Friday. Valueguard's Nasdaq OMX Valueguard-KTH Housing Index continued to rise in September, gaining 0.8 per cent, paced by a 1.5 per cent increase in apartment prices.