First home in Stockholm - any advice?

Vardagsekonomi
1

Apologies for putting this up in English (still naive in Svenska). I have been following this community for a while and very grateful for all the advice shared here.

Hi everyone,

We are an expat couple (both 31 years old) based in Stockholm, one working in a bank and other for a MNC. We have a combined net income of ~78k SEK per month (excluding any benefits/ bonus/ overtime pay) and currently live via a first hand contract. Our monthly expenses are ~35% of our net income which includes everything rent, food, transport (no car), insurances, sending money to parents and so on.
Currently, we have ~450k SEK in savings/ ISK in Avanza. Just to mention, we also have investments ~200k SEK in our home country which we can pull if needed.

  1. What is a reasonable price to target for our first home based on our income?
  • We are looking at 5M SEK apartment around 80 sq.m. (planning to put up 750k SEK as down-payment) resulting in monthly expenses (including amortization which I count as an expense due to it’s illiquidity) of ~53% based on our current income.
  • We are also looking towards family planning in a year or so which would mean reduced income and savings for a couple of years.

2. Any recommendations on location to consider?

  • We have mostly lived in North Stockholm and both work in Solna, so prefer not too far (~30-45 minutes commute) and not too close to city centre as well :slightly_smiling_face:

3. Considering there are upcoming policy changes related to mortgage and increase in avgift next year, any advice/ tips based on your experience?

Thanks for your time.

2 gillningar
2

Welcome.

I can speak to this!

Location

This is super-personal based on preferences. Much depends on how close you want to be to the city center and what matters to you in your private life, e.g. restaurants, opera, cinemas, sport clubs etc). The diversity on offer will be much larger the closer you are to the centre. I would also consider what type of nature you want to be close to.

A good rule of thumb is to live where you work per quadrant (you work in north-east quadrant, so don’t buy something in Barkaby or in the south). Use a travel time map to figure out if the travel time is reasonable: https://app.traveltime.com/. You’ll notice that being close to a train station is very valuable. Being on the same pendeltåg line as your job is also very valuable.

This map from SBAB gives a good indication of average prices per subway station, unfortunately I don’t know if there is a similar map per train station (but I’m sure you could make one with Booli + an LLM).

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Do you mind living in a less pretty flat if the inside looks nice? Do you want to be high with a view, or maybe a small garden on ground level?

Based on your profile (age, expat, no kids but potential, work in Solna), I would say:

  • Järvastaden/Ursvik (cycle to work, kid friendly, reasonably upcoming)
  • Solluntuna (Helenelund, Silverdal)
  • Älvsjö (breaks the quadrant rule, but an example along the right pendeltåg line)

Size

80m can be tight if you have a child. Do you want do move again once the child needs their own room? How many rooms do you want? Do you have to work from home as well?

Money

No lagfart (title deed) on a BRF apartment means it’s cheaper to buy/sell (lower fixed costs). Keep that in mind if you compare ägenderätt to BRF.

A reasonable price I would target is 4-5M, or a total monthly cost including everything between 20000 and 25000.

You can easily pay twice that if you want to be in a nice large flat close to the city centre, but you don’t have to. I would try to keep the monthly expenses at around 30% of the net income.

You will need 15% of the total as down payment, so pulling the investments seems necessary.

Here is an example (71m2, 3 rooms, cycle to work):

https://www.booli.se/bostad/4104806

Might sell for 4.5M, which would mean 22000 per month or 19387 after tax deduction on the interest.

I have also considered these row houses several times, they are very nice. Right next to the train tracks, but good views, reasonably new, reasonably cheap, reasonably pretty. You might like them as much as I do.

https://www.hemnet.se/bostad/radhus-4rum-helenelund-sollentuna-kommun-almvagen-29m-21644909

If you want to talk more (on the phone?) feel free to send me a DM. I’ve bought and sold several times.

8 gillningar
3

Welcome to the right place for these questions,

How long do you plan to stay in Sweden? Definition of expat is someone moving for a limited period of time. An immigrant is someone moving permanently (permanent eller tillsvidare).

If you are a true exapt, thereby staying in Sweden for a certain amount of time: 2, 3 or 5 years; I would not recommend buying an apartment if you have a first hand contract and 35% of net income in expenses.

To your questions:

  1. Is 53% of net income based monthly fixed expences or housing expences?
    What is your gross income? The banks will loan you based on gross salary, maximum 4.5x early gross salary (exceptions exist). Generally this forum will not recommend a loan over 4x (as long as you have good salary trajectory).
    Familiy planning should affect your choice of flexible, or fixed (2,3,5,10 yr) rate.
    Start contacting banks to play with the size of the mortgage, monthly payments etc. This will result in a “lånelöfte” from a bank which is the first (non-binding) step to getting a loan. You can use their online tool from the major banks. Some banks are easier/harder to work with as non-Swedes (depending on how long you’ve been here).
  2. Here you can find a longer discussion regarding the change in policy for mortgage:
    Niklas Wykman (M): ”Någon form av lättnad kring bolånereglerna, kommer vi gå fram med”
    Utredare föreslår lindrat amorteringskrav
2 gillningar
4

My first consideration would be if you even should buy. If you’re reasonably sure you will stay put in Stockholm for the next 5-7 years, then I would consider it. At least that’s the rule of thumb. Shorter periods than that the cost of buying and selling and the real estate market risk typically speaks against buying.

We’ve lived in a number of countries and always stuck to renting. A lot of things can happen that kills the contract prematurely, economic downturn, company reorganization/ restructuring, family issues forcing a repatriation etc. At least consider those risks as far as you can before plunging in. We have been forced to move more than once.

Oh, and of course, if your expatriate contract has any housing allowance, you should also check if that would still be paid out when you own an apartment.

Just some friendly advice so you’ve considered things like the above. Best of luck :+1:

6 gillningar
5

Thanks for sharing such valuable information. Great info with the SBAB indicator near metro stations. I will certainly try building one for train stations as well.

Regarding size and location -
Our preference is not to live at the ground level but certainly at a reasonable height. We are looking at 3 room apartments. I do work from home but my partner has to work from office. Indeed 80 sq.m. size is a start but the plan is to move to a bigger in 5 years down the line. We want to buy within our needs as the expenses increase with the size of the apartment.
Järvastaden, Älvsjö and Silverdal are interesting areas. Thanks for the suggestions. We are also looking towards Nacka and Huddinge, but have less exposure to those areas.

Regarding money -
when I say ~53% monthly expenses for an apartment of 5M SEK it means including all fixed and variable expenses. I guess you meant to keep housing costs less than 30%?
Here is our breakdown -
Housing costs are ~27%, other costs (food, transport, insurances, miscellaneous) are ~17.5% and other property investments (home country) are ~8.5% which adds to ~53% of net income.

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A lot of good advice already. I’ll just add an area that is nice and close to Solna. Not too pricey either.

There are a lot of not so nice areas just north and north-west of Solna though.

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1 gillning
7

Thank you for the reply.

I have been living in Stockholm for a while and my partner joined two years back. We in general like it here and are slowly building our close knit of support system as to call friends away from our family. Our visa status is tied with independent work permits from our employers and of-course with an indefinite work contract. So I would still call myself an expat in this case. I haven’t thought that far but I see myself in Sweden at-least for the next 5 years. I like my current work and opportunities to grow within the job role/ organization.

The combined gross is around ~1.3M SEK which would result in a debt-to-income ratio of 3.35 for a 5M SEK apartment. When I say ~53% monthly expenses for an apartment of 5M SEK it means including all fixed and variable expenses.
Here is our breakdown -
Housing costs (interest after tax, potential avgift, 2% amortization) are ~27%, other costs (food, transport, insurances, miscellaneous) are ~17.5% and other property investments (home country) are ~8.5% which would add to ~53% of net income.
We don’t see a challenge with lånelöfte as my partner is employed in a local bank. So it should be straightforward.
Thanks for sharing the links :slightly_smiling_face:

8

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, we do plan to stay at-least 5 years down the line.
We both have independent work permits, so hopefully have mitigated some risks but you never know. We don’t have any housing allowance in our contract unfortunately :confused:

1 gillning
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Thanks for sharing. I will have a look. As you highlighted about not so nice areas, this is the reason why we have eliminated certain areas from our choice of considerations :slightly_smiling_face:

10

Buy close to your work. Commuting is a pain and I avoid it like the plague. I’m unsure off the top of my head whether or not Solna is affordable enough for your preferred price to square footage ratio, but I should think it is. My girlfriend’s dad used to work in Sundbyberg before retiring earlier this year and it seems like a pretty decent spot that’s just outside Solna. Parts of Bromma may fit the price criteria as well. That’s where I’d personally start looking in your situation. Sad that I can’t recommend my dear Södermalm… too far from work.

As for the new debt changes, I have a close friend who runs a realtor company. He feels that the policy changes are already starting to be priced in when selling condos in very attractive parts of town, mostly confined to the city centre. That may be a sign to get in while you can before it surges all over. Who knows?

At your income you’re totally fine borrowing 4M. I would do my due diligence when inspecting the BRF you buy into. Perhaps that goes without saying.

Also, the other commenters are correct in questioning whether you should buy. A first hand contract is rarer than gold in this city. Is it too small/far away? If your rent is low enough and it’s otherwise adequate I would also heartily recommend considering renting as an option. If you plan to stay in Stockholm indefinitely it is certainly a reasonable move to buy!

11

Thanks for your answer. I have thought about renting vs buying and have tried last 6 months to move to a bigger rental apartment applying in general and even to lotteries but no luck.

Currently, I have a first hand contract in Ursvik for a 50 sq.m. 2 room apartment with 12k rent and it feels to me a rip off. The construction quality is poor and the commute towards Hallonbergen/ Solna is heavily crowded during peak times. The coming tunnelbana is now delayed to 2030 and maybe more. Who knows? It also doesn’t feel nice to live next to vulnerable areas or not so nice areas.
The other issue is friends/ family visit which is hard to squeeze in a 2 room apartment.

A 5M SEK apartment would cost me maybe 14k SEK per month (excluding amortization) which would be comparatively bigger and probably a good location as well.

1 gillning
12

I understand! The neighborhood you live in can really make a difference for quality of life. Short term you’re best off buying a place that’s easy to sell. That of course tends to be pricy. Check out all the nicer areas that have a direct commute to your workplace.

My personal experience with buying, and from observing others, is that one often has to buy ever so slightly smaller than one would like. Look for places listed 500k-1M lower than your max budget. 1M is probably more applicable in the city centre.

Lmk if you have more questions!

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Further discussion Slopat amorteringskrav 2026, kommer det ske? - Nr 58 av Otto1

1 gillning
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You should, in my view, look at buying a house as an alternative to a flat. That does not mean choosing one over the other, just being open to both options.

Kista is very similar to Ursvik and has very decent prices when it comes to houses. In Spånga there are also good options. Spånga is more diverse than Kista so it is harder to speak of that area as a whole.

With 5M budget you could find a good town house in several areas. I would say that it is a superior option to buying a flat.