4 ms·

How easy/cheap is it to get a small apartment...?

by berntb 14y ago

meriksson 14y ago
The market for apartments is not a strong point for Stockholm. You can get an apartment rather easily, but it is not cheap compared to similar cities in Europe. Some current listings from the Swedish equivalent of Craigslist: http://www.blocket.se/stockholm?q=&cg=3020&w=1&st=u&ca=11&l=0&md=th&ros=1&roe=3&m=131 http://www.blocket.se/stockholm?q=&cg=3020&w=1&s...
- subsystem 14y ago
  I wouldn't say it's easy. Most of those ads are for a room, short term or in the suburbs.
  - samuellb 14y ago
    Public transportation is quite good though. For most suburbs it's 15-30 minutes to the city center. If you don't mind (or prefer) living in the suburbs you can definitely reduce your costs a lot.
dalke 14y ago
It's crazy hard in Gothenburg, at least for some place I wanted to live. I've heard that Stockholm is worse. If you're a single person, willing to share an apartment with someone else, then you can rent just a room ("inneboende"). That's likely the easiest. You can also look for a sublease ("andrahandskontrakt"). But getting a lease ("förstahandskonrakt") is hard. Parts of town require you to be on a waiting list which can be up to 5 years long. For Gothenburg, I was on the list for 1.5 years for a lease before we gave up and moved to the smaller city of Trollhättan. No startup scene, but a 1,300 sq. ft. apartment in the center of town (3bd, 1.5 ba) goes for only $1,500/month, and the commuter train to Gothenburg takes about 45 minutes. If you have money you can get a "business apartment" for about 2x the normal rate. Those are pretty easy to find. But you'll need to have a business first (even one in the US) to rent it. You can get an idea of what's available using the aggregator http://kvalster.se/Stockholm http://kvalster.se/Stockholm . When a place is "1 rum" it means studio, "2 rum" means "living room and bedroom", etc. As a decent approximation, 1sq meter is 10 sq. feet. Rates in the tech area of Kista look about $700 for a shared room/studio. In Södermalm I see prices more around $800 for a room/studio, though you can pay a lot more. (350 sq. ft studio apartment, furnished, for one month rental while the owner is overseas, $1264 for the month.)
- pathy 14y ago
  Förstahandskontrakt is more like 17 years in the most popular parts (Vasastan in Stockholm). It is possible to get a sublet or such but it tends to be expensive and quite time consuming. A lot of scams going around as well so one has to be careful. Prices indicated above seem quite accurate.
  - dalke 14y ago
    17 years? Wow! Last I read was a couple of years ago, and it was definitely only about 5 then. But when I first moved to Gbg it was easy to get a 2nd-hand contract. Now it's nearly impossible. I read that there was a change ~5 years ago in the law to make it financially better for the Bfr to switch from rental to co-op, so I can see how that would also affect Stockholm. Well, if I want my children to retire in Vasastan then I should put their name on the list soon. (And have children, but that ruins the joke.)

How easy/cheap is it to get a small apartment...?

by berntb 14y ago

How easy/cheap is it to get a small apartment...?

The market for apartments is not a strong point for Stockholm. You can get an apartment rather easily, but it is not cheap compared to similar cities in Europe. Some current listings from the Swedish equivalent of Craigslist: http://www.blocket.se/stockholm?q=&cg=3020&w=1&st=u&ca=11&l=0&md=th&ros=1&roe=3&m=131 http://www.blocket.se/stockholm?q=&cg=3020&w=1&s...

subsystem 14y ago
I wouldn't say it's easy. Most of those ads are for a room, short term or in the suburbs.
- samuellb 14y ago
  Public transportation is quite good though. For most suburbs it's 15-30 minutes to the city center. If you don't mind (or prefer) living in the suburbs you can definitely reduce your costs a lot.

dalke 14y ago

It's crazy hard in Gothenburg, at least for some place I wanted to live. I've heard that Stockholm is worse. If you're a single person, willing to share an apartment with someone else, then you can rent just a room ("inneboende"). That's likely the easiest. You can also look for a sublease ("andrahandskontrakt"). But getting a lease ("förstahandskonrakt") is hard. Parts of town require you to be on a waiting list which can be up to 5 years long. For Gothenburg, I was on the list for 1.5 years for a lease before we gave up and moved to the smaller city of Trollhättan. No startup scene, but a 1,300 sq. ft. apartment in the center of town (3bd, 1.5 ba) goes for only $1,500/month, and the commuter train to Gothenburg takes about 45 minutes. If you have money you can get a "business apartment" for about 2x the normal rate. Those are pretty easy to find. But you'll need to have a business first (even one in the US) to rent it. You can get an idea of what's available using the aggregator http://kvalster.se/Stockholm http://kvalster.se/Stockholm . When a place is "1 rum" it means studio, "2 rum" means "living room and bedroom", etc. As a decent approximation, 1sq meter is 10 sq. feet. Rates in the tech area of Kista look about $700 for a shared room/studio. In Södermalm I see prices more around $800 for a room/studio, though you can pay a lot more. (350 sq. ft studio apartment, furnished, for one month rental while the owner is overseas, $1264 for the month.)

pathy 14y ago
Förstahandskontrakt is more like 17 years in the most popular parts (Vasastan in Stockholm). It is possible to get a sublet or such but it tends to be expensive and quite time consuming. A lot of scams going around as well so one has to be careful. Prices indicated above seem quite accurate.
- dalke 14y ago
  17 years? Wow! Last I read was a couple of years ago, and it was definitely only about 5 then. But when I first moved to Gbg it was easy to get a 2nd-hand contract. Now it's nearly impossible. I read that there was a change ~5 years ago in the law to make it financially better for the Bfr to switch from rental to co-op, so I can see how that would also affect Stockholm. Well, if I want my children to retire in Vasastan then I should put their name on the list soon. (And have children, but that ruins the joke.)