Locals aren't too bothered because they're still in denial.
They think falling interest rates will save them. Falling interest rates might push out reaching the bottom by a few years, but the trend is currently not your friend if you own property in Sweden.

I would agree that its going to take a while for the mess to unwind, unless the local banks start having trouble in which case the house of cards could fall a lot more quickly. Anyway, here is the latest update, prices falling more than previously even if it is for the slow month of december.

http://www.thelocal.se/38548/20120117/

Investors Ignore Nordic Housing Bubble Risks as Hunt for Havens Picks Up -> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-1 ... ks-up.html

Looks like the big step down has been pushed out another year at least, with the latest Riksbank's reductions in the interest rate, now down to 1.5%.
According to valueguard's house price index, prices rebounded a bit early in this year. Now with rates dropping on the inter-bank market, people will start loading up again with debt.
The Bloomberg article is on the money about the risks in scandinavia.

I'd have thought so too, but by pure fluke this evening I looked on Hemnet (the swedish Daft.ie) on the insistence of a work colleague who wants me to buy property, and settle down into the swedish way of life. Even for relatively central (and thus non heavily immigrant) parts of Stockholm like Bromma, prices on multiple properties from multiple agents were less than half what I would have expected them to be. At first I thought that it was just old fashioned low reserve to draw people in, despite the new "accepterat pris" policy that is supposed to be more realistic to the end actual selling price, but in other parts of the city the prices were as I would have expected them to be (ie 25-30k per m2). I also spoke to a colleague this evening who paid 15k per m2 for a place in Sollentuna which is a lot less than I would have thought possible a year ago.

So who knows... maybe some realism is finally effecting the market. I still won't be buying... might be leaving instead to head further afield

I have a job in Sweden at the moment but the contract expires next year. As for getting a permanent contract, that seems to be a closed gig for Swedes only. There's no open discrimination in Sweden, most of it is done unsaid and behind the scenes.

As for house prices, they still look to high. As for the apartments, the purchase price might be coming down but the building service fees (avgift) are often upwards of 300 and 400 euros a month, which is frankly ridiculous. But it includes cable TV and heating, as Swedes remind me. The TV cables must be made from gold instead of copper.

What are rents like in sweden if management charges are €300-400 per month?

Extortionate due to a huge imbalance between supply and demand, to the degree that when a newcomer arrives into our work group with a 2 month paid accommodation by the company we immediately tell them to start looking for somewhere. Some have given up and just bought almost straight away. I'm currently paying €800 per month for a very basic 35m2 one bedroom apartment, although that comes with electricity and internet included. I could probably do better but its got a great location for proximity to transport to work and the city centre.

Thats Stockholm though. The rest of Sweden is probably a lot less crazy.

Well, I married into the system. We pay €1000/month for a 3-bed 80sqm appartment about 5kms from the city centre. That includes heat, all costs except electricity and internet. But my wife was on a queue (waiting list) for 8 years to get that.

On other news, the list of bubble housing markets is now left at Canada, Sweden, Norway and Finland (Australia is now gone). Which one will go next? (I thought Sweden had gone too, but we need some exogenous shock to re-kick-start it here - like increases in the interbank rates).

That's good value compared to Dublin mate! Electricity and internet included!!!!

Borg Bashes Banks in Sweden Shielding Housing Bubble: Mortgages -> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-2 ... gages.html

Anders Borg is a chancer if there ever was one.

It annoys me that heating is included in the building fees. Anybody who knows a Swede knows that they like their heating on full blast all winter long so that they can prance around barefoot in shorts and t-shirt inside the house. And they leave the heat on full through the night as well.

I prefer it to be cool in the home, especially at night - and to use an extra blanket instead. But even if I turn all my radiators completely off, the house is still roasting hot, due to the heat coming from all the neighbouring apartments. And to think I'm paying for all that!

Agreed. He's loaded up to the hilt with personal debt. He bought a house a couple of years ago for 400,000 Euro in södermansland which is well under water, as well as a flat in the city for a few hundred thousand.
He's playing to the gallary just like the dispicable stamp-duty issue in the election in 2007. All his voters are loaded up to he hilt in debt too, so he's their champion.

Just repeating myself, but the bottoming out has been pushed out another year at least. No sign of any volatility in the inter-ban market or employment. Waiting for an exogenous shock to prick the bubble proper. It's still amazing that we went down 10% last year, and have pulled back most of that. People really just follow the simple algorithm of going to the bank, asking what they'll lend you, and then buying what you can with the money they'll lend you.

The Swedes blindly trust the system. Which makes no sense, seeing as only 20 years ago their economy collapsed.

I met a Swede on a small Spanish island in March. He had just bought a block of apartments there. Sounds familiar.....