Housing interest rates have now fallen steadily for over half a year. But housing prices are not rising as one might expect, on the contrary. In January, they fell further, and over the past three months, prices of condominiums have fallen by 1.6 percent.
This is partly due to larger price drops in Greater Stockholm, which is due to a lower number of sold apartments in the city center where price levels are higher than in the county as a whole, according to Hans Flink, business development manager at Svensk Mäklarstatistik, which compiles the figures.
"Volume rally"
Outside the major cities, condominium prices rose in January.
However, the overall picture is still that prices have been stagnant or falling during the late autumn and winter. One explanation is the large volumes of homes on the market, both condominiums and villas, in the aftermath of a very slow housing market during the inflation years with high interest rates.
It's not a price rally, possibly a volume rally, says Hans Flink.
What he has noted is that there is relatively little difference between the initial price and the final price of a housing deal. There are more homes to choose from, which is holding back prices.
In some way, it's healthy that they find each other at a level that doesn't get too out of hand, he says.
Counting in advance
The price turnaround came before the interest rate cuts took effect.
It seems like many had already counted in these cuts, says Hans Flink.
This could have an effect again now. In earlier forecasts, there were even more interest rate cuts expected this year from the interest rate experts. But they are increasingly at risk of being disappointed. Concerns from the outside world, tariffs, and an unexpectedly high fresh Swedish inflation figure for January make further interest rate cuts feel increasingly uncertain.
That will be a braking effect, possibly, for those who have already counted it in, says Hans Flink.
Condominium prices have fallen by 0.9 percent in one month, seen across the country, and by 1.6 percent over three months. On the other hand, prices have risen by 5.7 percent on average.
For villas, the corresponding development is minus 0.5 percent in one month, minus 2.5 percent in three months, but plus 4.2 percent in one year.
Source: Svensk Mäklarstatistik
