The company Rikshem AB has completed its very last construction in the foreseeable future. This is despite the fact that all the apartments in the new building had about 10 tenants each.
The reason, according to Petter Jurdell, Rikshem's commercial manager, is that higher interest rates and increased construction costs make it impossible to build homes people can afford to live in.
"It's the perfect storm. We are heading for a total construction crash in all forms of housing," he says.
It's not just rental apartments that are no longer being built. Petter Jurdell says that people also don't want to buy new apartments because of the high interest rates, and the same goes for villas.
"We are not starting any more housing projects throughout the country," says Petter Jurdell.
"Huge slowdown" of construction sites
Johanna Frelin, CEO of Riksbyggen, also testifies that her company has almost introduced a total ban on new construction. New projects have decreased by about 90 percent in the last two years.
"It's a huge slowdown," she says.
She believes that even though we do not notice any major difference now, we are not likely to see more construction cranes over Swedish cities from this spring.
"This slowdown will be very noticeable, very soon," says Johanna Frelin.
The most overcrowded in the Nordic countries
For all those looking for housing in Sweden, the situation will obviously not be improved by the housing construction being put on hold.
Sweden has become the most overcrowded country in the Nordic region, and families are forced to live in homes that are far too small because they cannot afford – or cannot get hold of – a better home.
In the clip, you can hear Yahya Muezziin, a father of five from Norrköping, talk about how his family is struggling to find a place where there is room for everyone.