A rebound in Swedish home prices unexpectedly gathered pace last month, casting doubt on most forecasters’ gloomy outlook for one of the world’s worst-hit housing markets.
(Bloomberg) — A rebound in Swedish home prices unexpectedly gathered pace last month, casting doubt on most forecasters’ gloomy outlook for one of the world’s worst-hit housing markets.
Prices for apartments and single-family homes in March rose by 2% and 1%, respectively, compared with the average from the prior three months, a period used to smooth out volatility in the data, according to realtor organization Svensk Maklarstatistik on Thursday. The last time both categories rose in the same month occurred a year ago.
The development contrasts with SBAB’s recent data that Sweden’s most severe housing slump in three decades had resumed in March after taking a pause. It’s also at odds with most economists’ views that the residential property market is set to decline by about 20% from its peak, with the gloomiest projections seeing a quarter of home values wiped out.
Read More: Swedish Housing Rout Is Only Halfway to Trough, Danske Says
“That prices rose in March is somewhat surprising,” the organization said. “At the same time, there is a pent-up need to move, so both sellers and buyers have perhaps begun to find each other at a new price level.”
Over half of members in the housing brokers’ lobby group believe that prices will remain unchanged during the second quarter, it added.
The improvement puts the peak-to-trough slide in apartment prices at 10%, with detached house prices down 14%, according to Maklarstatistik. Market volumes remain thin, as apartment sales fell 27% in the first quarter from a year earlier, and 19% fewer houses changed owners, the organization said.
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