"God pour some mildness over the stone housing office";

so ironically Joachim Ringelnatz in 1923 in his "Prayer of fear of the housing shortage".

Today there is enough cause for cynicism of this kind.

The housing shortage, which is developing into a veritable social issue throughout Europe, has played a major role in the party programs of European governments for years.

In Sweden, housing policy yesterday had substantial consequences;

because the explosive nature of this question led to the election of Prime Minister Stefan Löven's government.

The background is an investigation commissioned by the government into the setting of rents for new buildings and the plea for the repeal of such, which led the opposition parties to the vote of no confidence.

Wait sixteen years

Because although the rents in the country have remained relatively stable to date due to the state rent setting, there is also a lack of apartments in the kingdom for those who cannot or do not want to afford their own home. In terms of numbers, the problem is reflected in the number of years that one waits in Sweden for an apartment to be awarded by the municipal housing authorities. The waiting time for an apartment in central Stockholm was around 16 years in 2020 and around 10 years in Gothenburg. The fact that of 4.8 million households in Sweden only 1.2 million live for rent is not necessarily a sign of the country's wealth, but rather that there is simply a lack of alternatives to buying and the associated high private debt. So it is especially real estate loans,which puts Sweden at the top of the European household gross debt-income ratio.

The Janus-faced nature of this system is revealed in a real estate bubble that continues to grow due to the unrestrained rise in market prices. This is fueled not only by the low interest rates, but also by politics. In addition to the current interest, a loan taken out in Sweden only has to be repaid since 2016 and since then only if the loaned amount exceeds fifty percent of the market value of the property. Tax relief such as the popular "Ränteavdrag" - a reduction in interest payments through taxpayers' money - makes it possible to borrow more sums than you could actually afford. Also sophisticated sales strategies of broker offices and the associated,Branches that are developing from the profitable business with real estate, such as the popular “home styling” before a sale, continue to heat the market. In particular, the latter, in spite of all the desperation, calls for Ringelnatz's ridicule again.

Indian tipi in small format

Because the phenomenon “home styling” actually incarnates the ideology of beautiful living par excellence. That, especially in times of the pandemic, drove people, paralyzed by their own four walls, to even more risky buying behavior than in previous years. For example, Swedish summer houses even without a water or electricity connection were sold for the horrendous prices if they were previously styled ready for a brochure with a selected hand. Recurring objects are striking in the advertisements: for example vases in the form of buttocks, placed in window niches of old buildings from the turn of the century, a recurring Indian tipi in small format as a signal for potential children's rooms, an extremely unsightly designer lamp made of black-lacquered metal, linen bed linen, preferably in white and Beige,and picture walls placed with a knowledgeable hand in a selected range of colors.

Not normal anymore!

All of this has little to do with normality, but rather with the insight that living has long since become a luxury. This is intended to signal the exclusive selection of designer furniture and fine fabrics, which arouses the longing to be able to move into completely different social spheres with the purchase of a residential property. While on the one hand the feeling of size and grandeur among the potential buyers is increased, on the other hand the feeling of having been left behind increases once again in view of the uniformed homes. The political positioning on the question of rent setting, which brought about the overthrow of the Swedish government, was aimed precisely at this feeling. Without exaggeration one can saythat the social question of the housing shortage - at least in Europe - has reached a temporary high point.