Sweden

Several Swedish organizations and individuals have taken concrete action to tackle the housing crisis and promote affordable, sustainable housing in cities. The municipality of Skellefteå, together with its public housing company Skelleftebostäder (Skebo), is actively building hundreds of new affordable, energy-efficient rental homes, supported by significant investment from the European Investment Bank. Their approach targets both low-income residents and students while emphasizing green construction and community-building.

Innovation-driven collaboration projects such as the "Housing innovation from the bottom up" initiative, funded by Vinnova, bring together the University of Gothenburg (notably Jaan-Henrik Kain and Jenny Stenberg), the Swedish Union of Tenants, Egnahemsfabriken Tjörn, and several local municipalities and cooperatives. These alliances explore civil society-driven co-housing and permanently affordable rental options, leveraging both academic research and grassroots organization.

Good prospective partners for collaborations include the University of Gothenburg for academic expertise, municipal housing companies like Skebo for implementation, and NGOs or cooperatives such as the Swedish Union of Tenants and Stenbacken housing cooperative for community engagement and advocacy. Impact-focused investors and local civil society groups, already involved in pilot projects, also play important roles, while impact investment reports highlight the need for cross-sector cooperation and new financing models to overcome regulatory and economic barriers.

Sweden is experiencing a housing crisis marked by a multi-year market downturn, steep regional disparities, and constrained supply. Between 2022 and mid-2024, home prices fell by up to 16%, especially in Stockholm and Gothenburg. Although the market stabilized in 2025 with modest price increases of 2-5% annually, the rebound remains uneven; rural and northern regions saw stronger annual growth of up to 12%, while major cities lag behind.

Residential construction has dropped significantly. In 2024, new dwellings started declined by 14% and completions plummeted by over 30%. In Q1 2025, construction activity remained weak, with completions down 63% compared to the previous year. This supply shortage, combined with rising inventories (about 69,000 unsold homes, a 17% year-on-year increase), leaves many buyers and renters facing limited options and elevated prices, particularly in urban centers.

Households are highly indebted, making them vulnerable to economic shocks and interest rate fluctuations. The crisis affects broad segments: first-time buyers, renters (especially in metropolitan areas), low-income households, young adults, and newly arrived immigrants face the greatest barriers to securing stable housing. Although homelessness rates are comparatively low by OECD standards, significant numbers—especially in urban regions—are still forced into temporary accommodations or face extended waits for public housing.

In Sweden, about 65% of the population owns their homes, while 35% are renters. The housing market in 2025 is showing modest recovery after a downturn from 2022 to 2024. The national median price to buy an apartment is approximately €3,900 per square meter, with central Stockholm reaching up to €7,700 per sqm. The average rental price is around €18 per sqm monthly, though regional variations exist.

Publicly owned housing, managed by municipal housing companies, is a major part of the Swedish market. It is not the same as social housing: Swedish public housing is designed for all income groups, operating on a universal model rather than targeting only low-income households. Public housing typically accounts for about 20% of the national housing stock and is distributed through waiting lists rather than means-testing.

Rent increases have recently averaged 4.8% nationwide, with public housing showing slightly lower hikes compared to private landlords. The role of public housing is both as a market corrective and as a backbone of Sweden’s universal housing policy, ensuring broad access rather than social targeting.

The Swedish national government addresses affordable and sustainable housing mainly through indirect means, emphasizing regulatory measures, tax policy, and incentives rather than large-scale direct subsidies or national programs. Recent strategies include streamlining building permits, relaxing some planning regulations, and encouraging green construction methods by supporting eco-technology and expedited environmental certification processes. The government has also endorsed using PropTech (property technology) and digitalization in housing development to promote cost efficiencies and sustainability.

Communicated national targets for the housing sector focus on aligning new construction with climate neutrality goals—specifically, aiming for all new buildings to be near-zero energy by 2030 in line with EU directives. The government aims to encourage higher output through regulatory reform instead of new construction subsidies.

Key activities include incentive schemes for energy-efficient renovation and modernization, particularly in the public and rental sectors, as well as support for local pilot projects using sustainable construction materials. However, there is no new national financial support for affordable housing construction or a shift toward means-tested social housing. Instead, Sweden relies on its universal housing policy framework, with municipalities and their housing companies responsible for most implementation, often constrained by budget and market realities. Proposals under discussion include increasing housing allowances for low-income households and further reforms to the rent negotiation system to improve supply without eroding tenant protections.

In Sweden, cooperative housing, mainly in the form of bostadsrättsföreningar (housing cooperatives), plays a significant role. These cooperatives are essentially associations of apartment owners who collectively own and manage their buildings. Bostadsrätter account for about 41% of the apartments in multi-unit dwellings, with a substantial presence in the Swedish housing market.

The sector is developing amidst challenges such as increasing bankruptcies among cooperatives, which rose to 117 in 2024, nearly triple the number from the previous year. Current dynamics include high debt levels among new cooperatives, exacerbated by the rising interest rates. The government does not have specific policies to promote cooperative housing but focuses on broader housing policies, such as regulatory reforms to encourage sustainable construction and energy efficiency. There are no direct subsidies for cooperative housing development, but the broader housing policies aim to ensure affordability and sustainability across all housing types.