I’m moving to Skåne for work, hoping to get a new (higher paid) position that will be opening up in about 2 years time in a different area of Sweden. The houses/apartments I’m looking at would allow me to live super close to my workplace and are quite affordable at 1.5-3million kr. My employment is stable and I have a decent chunk of savings.
Buying would mean I’m closer to my work and my monthly costs would likely be a fair amount lower, but I worry that the market might be too risky, especially as I plan to potentially sell in around 2 years. Is it worth the risk, or better to rent?
It depends on where in Skåne we’re talking about. But is it the southwestern part or any of the other larger towns I would consider it safe. The market hasn’t moved much the last few years and with many universitys and similar in the vicinity there’s always a market for reasonably priced apartments and houses.
Thanks for your response! I’m working in Burlövs kommun and have found several properties I’m interested there, as well as in nearby areas such as Lund.
So, smack bang in the middle of the busiest part then. Burlöv isn’t, imho, that attractive when it comes to apartments but the proximity of Malmö and Lund with good commuter possibilities by both train and buses makes everything a totally different ball game.
Lund has always been attractive due to the university and many large international firms. If you find something good, you can easily sell it again, if you don’t decide to stay that is.
Malmö is somewhat easier to find cheaper accomodation, but has gained momentum since the bridge was built and the university opened. But generally speaking, there are far more and cheaper apartments in Malmö, not least in the Burlöv end of the city.
If you’re looking at houses most of the nearby smaller towns (or “kranskommuner”) are attractive due to the great commuting possibilites and the fact that even “smaller” towns have all the basic necessities available locally.
The biggest problem is that there is alot of talks that the prices on real-estate is going to go down. So the question is if it’s only 2 years. Would you be ok with buying an apartment for 1-2 million sek. And get 500 000 sek less back when selling. Also the problem with this is that we don’t know when it will go down. Could be both later or earlier.
Since you plan to stay in Sweden any decline in the housing market would probably affect all parts of Sweden in a similar (but not identical) way. That means that if you buy a new home in another part of Sweden after your two years in Skåne your new home would also have decreased in price.
It might be difficult to make the numbers add up. As many have pointed out, betting on the development of housing prices is a gamble.
In addition, there is the real estate agent’s commission. If you hold onto an apartment for 2 years, just the commission alone will drag down your finances by 2,000 to 3,000 SEK per month on average.
