Sweden's house prices down 2.09% y-o-y in Q1 2019

The nationwide house price index fell by 2.09% during the year to Q1 2019, in contrast to a y-o-y rise of 2.71% in the previous year. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of annual price falls. Quarter-on-quarter, house prices increased slightly by 0.68% during the latest quarter.

House prices surged by 44% in the past 6 years.

Demand and supply falling. Homes sold in one- to two-dwelling buildings fell by 14.5% y-o-y to 9,915 units in Q1 2019, after falling by 1.2% last year according to Statistics Sweden. 

In Q1 2019, dwelling starts in newly constructed one- to two-dwelling buildings fell by 29.4% y-o-y to about 2,081 units, after falling by 18.3% in 2018. Likewise, dwelling completions also dropped 47.1% to 1,789 units over the same period.

Rents, rental yields: yields figures are hard to get. 

Stockholm apartment costs are around €6,991 per sq. m.

Sweden: typical city centre apartment buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m)
	Buying price	Rate per month	Yield
Stockholm	€ 838,920	n.a.	n.a.

Recent news: The Swedish economy grew by about 2.3% last year, from annual growth rates of 2.1% in 2017, 2.7% in 2016, 4.5% in 2015 and 2.6% in 2014. 

Recently, the National Institute of Economic Research revised downwards its 2019 growth projections for Sweden to just 1.3%, from an earlier forecast of 1.9%, amidst a decline in housing investment.