🇸🇪 Sweden

Sweden's property market operates on a distinctive cooperative housing system (bostadsrätt), where buyers purchase the right to live in an apartment owned by a housing cooperative rather than owning the property outright. This system dominates the apartment market, while single-family houses (villor) are sold as freehold. Stockholm's property prices have risen dramatically, with central apartments commanding SEK 80,000-120,000/m² ($7,500-$11,000/m²), making it one of Northern Europe's most expensive cities.

The Swedish market experienced a significant correction in 2022-2023 when the Riksbank rapidly raised interest rates, as Swedish mortgages are predominantly variable-rate (often 3-month terms). This interest rate sensitivity makes the Swedish market more volatile than its Nordic neighbors. There are no restrictions on foreign property purchases, and transaction costs are relatively low with a stamp duty of just 1.5% (4.25% for legal entities). Sweden's transparent property registration system and the popular Swedish bidding process (where asking prices serve as starting points for upward bidding) create an efficient, if sometimes heated, market.