During the first month of the year, prices for condominiums and villas decreased by 0.8 and 0.6 percent respectively in the country as a whole, according to the statistics from Swedish Mäklarstatistik.
At the same time, sales are increasing. During January, 10,300 homes were sold, which is 7 percent more than January last year. Of these, 7,400 were condominiums and 2,900 villas, an increase of 6 and 13 percent.
The brokerage community: Reasons for optimism
Despite falling housing prices, there is still reason for optimism in the housing market, according to Oskar Öholm, CEO of the Mäklarsamfundet.
– Interest rate cuts are now expected with great probability, speculators are starting to come back to the viewings and the majority of brokers believe in unchanged prices during the first quarter of the year.
Erik Wikander, vice president of Svensk Fastighetsförmedling, believes that we are in the middle of a trend break.
– For the first time in a long time, there are now more condominium transactions than in the corresponding period the year before. On the residential side, we already saw that effect during the fourth quarter, he tells TT.
SBAB: No trend break yet
But at SBAB, they oppose the image of a trend break. On the same day that the broker statistics were published, SBAB published a press release with the headline “No thaw than on the housing market”.
The temperature on the housing market is still low, says Robert Boije, chief economist at SBAB.
– We have a very large selection of apartments right now, and we also don’t see any improvement in how quickly it is possible to get your home sold. There we actually see that it takes longer and longer.
The Riksbank’s forecast that the policy rate will be lowered before the summer is an improvement, but there are other factors that will dampen the effect, according to Boije.
– A negative factor that I think we underestimated is that many condominium associations still have to raise their fees.
What does SBAB think about housing prices?
– House prices will stand and tread a little here now, it may even go down a little in early spring, but looking at the full year 2024, we believe in an upswing.