Night black for the single-family house manufacturers - industry association fears bankruptcies

For those who want to buy a newly built house, there are not many curves that point in the right direction.

High inflation, rising interest rates, high energy prices and the war in Ukraine cause many people to hesitate before buying a house.

This has caused the market for companies that sell detached houses to slow down.

David Johnson, CEO of the industry organization Trä- och möbelföretagen, TMF, describes the situation for the industry as "night black". 

- It is as serious as during the financial crisis in 2008. We fear that it will lead to bankruptcies, above all among the smaller companies, he says. 

Every fourth person can be notified

SVT has spoken to five of Sweden's largest single-family house manufacturers, and they have all seen a lower order intake.

The company Obos last notified 200 employees on Monday. 

- We are halving the production rate in our factories and therefore we have unfortunately been forced to notify employees - almost a third of our workforce, says Obos Sweden CEO Joakim Henriksson. 

According to TMF, 10 percent of the industry's employees have been notified in the second half of 2022. They also predict that another 25 percent will be notified in 2023. 

- Far too few houses are sold for the companies to have anything to do.

This applies to the entire housing industry, says TMF's David Johnsson.

Apartment buildings also affected

According to the Housing Agency's forecast, housing construction will decrease in 2023, both in terms of single-family houses and apartment buildings.

In total, it is believed that 33,000 homes will be built in 2023, compared to 59,000 in 2022. 

At the same time, single-family housing companies see increased purchasing costs.

Fredrik Anheim, CEO of Anebyhus, believes that a problem is the practice in the industry of selling houses at a fixed price - a price that is set 8-12 months before the house is delivered. 

- It has worked well since the beginning of the 2000s.

But now, during the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, we have had cost increases of 15-20 percent.

This means that we are forced to deliver houses at a loss, he says. 

Several of the companies SVT spoke to state that they had to raise prices. 

- We raised the prices especially during last year when we had explosive cost increases.

We try to lower the price as much as possible, there is a limit to how much the consumer can pay, says Gunnar Jönsson, CEO of Fiskarhedenvillan.