In a survey commissioned by SEB, 50 per cent of Swedish households said they believe housing prices are likely to rise over the coming year. This compares to 49 per cent who said so in March. The share of respondent who believe prices will fall declined to 15 per cent in April from 20 per cent in March.
“Over the past few months the indicator have stabilised at healthy levels, indicating a continued rise in housing prices. This also suggests that consumer confidence will remain at high levels going forward,” says Erica Blomgren, a fixed-income strategist at SEB.
At 13 per cent, the share of Swedish households that have mortgages with fixed rates is at its lowest level ever. This indicates that households are not overly worried about rising rates.
The Housing Price Indicator is the difference between the share of respondents in the survey that believe in rising prices compared to the share that believe in falling prices. SEB has commissioned a survey on this subject every month since March 2003.