PROPERTY PRICES in Sweden are stable but few foreigners have ventured into the market, believing it to be overly expensive. Property is often sold via auction, with bids being submitted to an estate agent. The estate agent takes the role of solicitor in Sweden and is legally obliged to protect the interests of buyer as well as vendor.
If you can put down a 25 per cent deposit, a mortgage from a Swedish bank is easily arranged with rates at a current historic low of 2 per cent.
Stamp duty is levied at 1.5 per cent for private individuals.
There is also property tax to pay: properties are rated at less than 50 per cent of their true value for property tax reasons. You pay 1 per cent of that calculated valuation per annum in taxes to the municipality – in our case, about €300.
A word of warning: labour costs are comparable to those in other western European countries; major renovations could equal the purchase price of a holiday hideaway which seemed such a snip at €30,000.
Estate agent Stefan Karlsson of Fastighetsbryran, Sunne (Stefan.karlsson@fastighetsbyran.se) is selling good quality holiday homes from around €30,000, rising to €270,000 for a very large country house on 50 hectares (124 acres) of mainly forested lands with extensive outbuildings, including stables and a second house.
Getting information about buying in Sweden isn’t as easy as finding out about more usual destinations – but there is information out there. Websites to check out include:
www.viviun.com/real_estate/sweden
www.overseaspropertymall.com
www.propertyworld.com
www.maklarsamfundet.se (for the Swedish association of real estate agents)
