Stockholm is pulling away – close to a new dream limit for housing prices

"Stockholm pulls away - close to new dream limit."

The title has a gleeful tone, as if describing Armando Duplanti's feeling before the next pole vault. The limit that is about to be reached, however, concerns the capital's housing prices: soon a square meter will cost SEK 125,000. In one year, prices have increased by almost 9 percent.

Dream limit. For whom? Homeowners, who after owning their home for a long time can sell at a profit, sure. Banks, which will offer higher loans and receive more in interest costs, absolutely. And the brokers, of course, whose champagne bills at Stureplan can be grotesquely long.

But for other groups?

Those who lack equity and rent their accommodation are forced – due to the long housing queues – to move between uncertain subcontracts, which are often so expensive that saving becomes almost impossible. Earlier this year, Region Stockholm warned in a report that those who work in healthcare find it increasingly difficult to live within commuting distance of their job. In 25 years, the number of square meters a nurse can afford has almost halved.

In Maxim Grigoriev's new novel "Adrian", his first depiction of Stockholm, it is described how the capital changes after the sale of public goods was released in the mid-2000s: "The city's interior had once and for all been cleared of unwanted elements and its heart given over to bank palaces, offices and chain department stores". Place for: purity and luxury. Not for: the poor and day laborers. "The right kind of people would do the right kind of things in town."

Teachers, nurses, police officers - are they the right kind of people?

Teachers, nurses, police officers - are they the right kind of people? The development cannot be entirely blamed on a specific retraining reform. But the direction is ominously reminiscent of when New York's then mayor, Michael Bloomberg, called the Big Apple a "luxury product." As if creating a million-dollar city just for rich kids and successful entrepreneurs was an aspirational goal.

The change isn't necessarily pleasant even for those who actually manage to save up for a den. Many couples move in together with construction workers, as the apartment is renovated immediately after moving in. They get Svenskt Tenn wallpaper they don't like and appliances they don't want. They are not furnishing a home - they are equipping an investment property to be sold quickly at a profit. And so everyone is chasing a price per square meter that is constantly one step ahead.

The housing market is moving towards a limit. It's probably more like a nightmare. However: development is the result of political choices, rather than natural laws. We can choose what kind of city we want.

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