The Swedish Housing Market from a Low Income Perspective

After the economic crisis in the early 1990s there was excess supply of housing, but over the last 25 years demand has increased because of rising population, rising incomes and low levels of housing construction. The result has been rising prices and longer queues to (rent regulated) rental housing. The lack of affordable housing has made the situation especially difficult for low-income "outsiders", e.g. immigrant groups and various marginalized groups. In the debate about explanations and policies one can find demand for "more market", e.g. deregulating the rental market, weaken the municipal planning monopoly and cutting back on building regulations. There are also proposals for "less market", e.g. state directives about municipal planning volumes, subsidies to housing construction and more active municipal housing companies. As the current government is weak, most initiatives comes from the local level, e.g. both below market rents for lower income households and planning for more low-cost housing.