Prices for condominiums and villas have picked up in the spring after last year’s big decline. May was no exception, one percent up for both housing types compared to April, according to monthly figures for the country as a whole from Swedish Mäklarstatistik. And it looks much the same in the big cities.
Per-Arne Sandegren does not think that this is the beginning of a major turnaround.
— But the market has clearly stabilized. We have found some sort of balance level, he says and points out that it has been slightly up since February-March.
Clearer mode
And this summer no major price variations are expected, then as usual it will be quite calm unless something very unexpected happens, according to Sandegren. In such cases, this would mean a stable price level for six months.
The interest rate situation is starting to clear up, at least according to what the Riksbank signals and bank economists say. It is true that the interest rate is predicted to rise a little more this summer, but then it will be fully raised, if the assessors are to be believed.
“Our members are reporting more aggressive buyers who are beginning to anticipate the interest rate peak,” writes Joakim Lusensky, head of analysis at Mäklarsamfundet, in a comment.
Compared to the price peak in March-April 2022, it is still about a price drop of nine percent for condominiums and 13 percent for villas, a good distance from the around 20 percent down that many assessors predicted.
Villas have fallen more
According to Sandegren, the fact that the villas fell more is due to rising energy costs and that houses are often bought with larger loans and are thus hit by the higher interest rates to a greater extent.
But there are still relatively few deals. During the first five months of the year, there were 20–25 percent fewer condominium and villa transactions than during the same period last year.
— The decline becomes particularly clear because we are comparing with a period that had already started to decline, says Sandegren.