Renting Apartment in Sweden

On my search for moving apartments in Stockholm, Sweden, I have discovered one thing: Swedes love to rent out their apartments for 2 week periods, holidays, 2 month periods, and 8 month periods. I have one thing to say to that.

Who. the hell. do. you. think. you. are.

No seriously. Stockholm already has a rental problem. In fact, it takes 20 some odd years just to rent out an apartment straight from the housing company (1st hand contract). Landlords are so damn greedy, that if they go up to grandma’s house for Christmas, they will rent out their apartment for 2 weeks to some foreigner who is desperately searching for someplace to call home. And they will also make you pay a deposit of more than you will rent it out for.

The kicker is you need to pay at least 15% of the housing cost up front when you buy. That could be around 300,000 SEK ($40,000 USD).

I have never seen this anywhere else in my life. When I am searching for apartments, I always see an ending date. Who wants to move every 3 months to a new apartment? It is not only stressful, but takes down your quality of life because you can never settle.

Renting is pretty much the only way to go for someone who is new to Stockholm. The problem is there are not enough apartments to rent from, since a majority of them are what we Americans call condos (apartments to buy).

And buying? No one ever has 1-3 million SEK just to pay if they have just moved here and are young. So, everyone takes out a loan from the bank (Hurray! The Swedish big man, screwing us over again!) Everyone seems to take out a loan, but the kicker is you need to pay at least 15% of the housing cost for a down payment. That could be around 300,000 SEK (around $40,000 USD).