Not since 2013 have rents been increased as much as this year. Now an apartment of three rooms and kitchens averages SEK 7,147 a month, new figures from Statistics Sweden show. The average rent for a second is SEK 5,761, and one costs SEK 4,140 a month.

The increase follows inflation

This year's rent increases reached 1.9 per cent, after having been around 1 per cent for several years. The main reason for this is that inflation is expected to be higher this year than before, according to Tomas Ernhagen, chief economist at Property Owners.

- That there will be a 1.9 per cent increase must be attributed to inflation, which has been at about the same level. So we really have no change in the rent level at all. In the past four years, the rent level has actually fallen in real terms - thus clearing inflation, says Tomas Ernhagen.

The relatively high inflation of the last four years has “eaten up” the rent increases, which have been around one percent. But between 2011 and 2014 rents were raised by about two percent each year, and then with very low inflation. That is also the trend - it will be more expensive to rent.

More expensive apartment rental

According to the Swedish Housing Agency, rents have increased by about 2 percent per year since the mid-1970s, adjusted for inflation. Statistics Sweden's statistics show that rents have increased almost twice as much as the consumer price index - ordinary consumer goods and services - since 1969. Thus, compared to other goods, it becomes more expensive and more expensive to rent an apartment. At the same time, it has become relatively cheaper to own his apartment, for example through the low interest rates, the root deduction and the scrapped property tax.

Big differences between the regions - but second-hand rents are not visible

The differences in rents between the regions are large. Just between Greater Stockholm and Greater Gothenburg, almost a thousand SEK in rent for an apartment. In the smaller municipalities, which Statistics Sweden counts municipalities with fewer than 75,000 inhabitants, the average rent for a third is SEK 6,401 a month.

In addition, there are large differences in localities, and this is especially apparent in the big cities. In Stockholm, it is almost 40 percent more expensive to rent an apartment of 70 square meters on Östermalm than in Tensta-Spånga.

Statistics Sweden's survey is based on a selection of approximately 15,600 apartments in apartment buildings and detached houses throughout the country. It is the property owners who stated how much rents have risen. But the survey only covers ordinary rental properties in the first place, and can thus underestimate the rent increase in metropolitan areas where many rent in the second place.