“What we’re seeing now is that prices are relatively stable since spring after dropping substantially,” the deputy CEO of estate agents Svensk Fastighetsförmedling, Erik Wikander, told The Local.
Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank, has raised the country’s key interest rate at eight meetings in a row, with the rate hitting 4 percent at the bank’s last meeting in September.
“It’s clear that we’re now at or near the peak for interest rates, we’ll see if there’s a final hike to the key interest rate in November.”
Experts are divided on whether the bank will choose to raise the rate again at this month’s meeting on November 23rd or whether it will choose to keep it the same for the first time since May 2022.
More and more experts are forecasting that interest rates will start to drop in the near future, which Wikander argues could be a good sign for prospective buyers.
“As far as timing is concerned I’d say it’s a really good time to buy a property right now.”
Buyer’s market – but for how much longer?
Sweden’s property market has been a clear buyer’s market for a year and a half, Wikander said, but that might not be the case for much longer.
“We’re right on the boundary at the moment – it’s still a buyer’s market – but when we start to see the market picking up again then things will start to equalise.”
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Things are unlikely to flip far in the other direction towards the “hyped market” Sweden experienced in the pandemic years, he added, but the situation should improve for those trying to sell property once things start to turn.
“I don’t think we should expect a strong rise in the market, like the hyped market we saw during the pandemic, which was