Published on and written by Cyril Jarnias
Long perceived as a country of vast preserved spaces and human-scale cities, Sweden is now caught in a powerful dual movement: a structurally growing tourism industry, and a tight real estate market, undergoing a major reshuffle after a historic correction. Where these two dynamics meet, the effects are very tangible, whether it’s the price per square meter in the Stockholm archipelago, rents in Uppsala, or the number of second homes in the mountains of Jämtland.
Good to know:
The real estate market in Sweden, both urban and rural, is directly and indirectly impacted by several dynamics: visitor flows, the growth of short-term rentals, the boom in second homes, and the directions of public policy.
Tourism, now an economic… and real estate pillar
Tourism is a heavy weight in the Swedish economy. Before the pandemic, its direct contribution to GDP hovered around 2.6%, and all travel and tourism-related activities accounted for over 6% of gross domestic product by some estimates. After the sharp drop in 2020 (1.7% of GDP), the sector rebounded quickly: in 2021, tourist spending reached 249 billion Swedish kronor, an 18% increase from 2020, with 57 billion coming from foreign visitors.
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The spending of foreign tourists in Sweden in 2024, exceeding the 2019 peak by over 16%.
For the real estate market, this means one clear thing: the demand for beds – whether hotel rooms, campsites, short-term rentals, or second homes – is increasing faster than traditional accommodation capacity, in a country where housing construction remains below estimated needs. Sweden needs to build about 52,000 homes per year over a decade to close the deficit, but only delivered around 31,000 per year in 2023–2024, with a drop in housing starts of 26% to 46% depending on the segment.
Example:
In Sweden, properties like a vacation home on the coast of Västra Götaland, an apartment rented on Airbnb in Södermalm (Stockholm), or a small cabin in Dalecarlia illustrate how tourist-use real estate integrates and influences the residential market, becoming strategic assets in a context of housing shortage.
Second homes: Sweden, the land of “voluntary temporary populations”
One of the Nordic specificities, and Sweden’s in particular, is the gigantic place occupied by second homes. Nearly half of the Nordic population has access to a second home, and in Sweden, this phenomenon is concentrated in a few emblematic regions: the southern mountains (Dalecarlia, Jämtland Härjedalen), the Stockholm archipelago, or the island of Öland.
The visitation figures are impressive: in the mid-2000s, second homes already accounted for about 34 million overnight stays, nearly a quarter of all tourist overnight stays in the country. In some areas, over 50% of small houses serve as vacation homes. About one-third of the second home stock is located in “fritidshusområden” (recreational house areas), these seasonal spaces with fewer than 50 permanent residents but at least 50 houses spaced less than 150 meters apart.
Permanent flows between city and countryside
Nordic research describes a continuous process of “counter-urbanization”: residents of large Swedish cities – Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala – spend an increasing share of their time in homes located in low-density regions, especially in summer and winter, but also increasingly on weekends. This movement creates what researchers call “voluntary temporary populations”: neither classic tourists nor permanent residents, but an in-between that blurs the statistical boundary between urban and rural.
The motivations are well documented: a need to reconnect with nature, escape the urban pace, strengthen family ties, but also an investment logic. In Finland, studies show that city dwellers use second homes significantly more than rural residents, confirming the “compensation theory”: spending time in sparsely populated, natural spaces improves perceived quality of life.
Finnish studies
On the ground, these flows have a concrete impact on rural real estate. In mountain municipalities like Härjedalen or Jokkmokk, the permanent population is decreasing, but seasonal residents and second homeowners partly compensate for this decline. They support businesses, services, cultural activities, and create jobs in tourism, crafts, construction, or resident services.
When a second home structures a local market
Nordic studies show that, overall, the community impact of these homes is considered positive by municipalities that have learned to integrate them into planning. In Härjedalen, Sweden, cabin owners and seasonal tourists are seen as assets for rural development. They participate in planning cultural activities, justify maintaining certain public or private services, and boost local employment.
Note:
To measure the impact of temporary residents and tourists, researchers use the “Community Impact” (CI) indicator. It corresponds to the ratio between the total number of annual occupants (permanent and temporary) and the permanent population alone. A high CI means this “invisible” population exerts increased pressure on infrastructure, services, and ultimately on the demand for housing and land. This indicator is particularly strong in rural and intermediate areas, where the number of second homes increased the most between 2010 and 2017.
For real estate, this means that the price of houses and land no longer depends only on official local demographics, but also – and sometimes primarily – on these seasonal flows.
Second Homes in Sweden
Schematic overview of the place of second homes in some emblematic Swedish areas, based on Nordic research and market studies.
Stockholm Archipelago
A highly sought-after area for second homes, characterized by high island concentration and seasonal accessibility.
Lake Region (Värmland, Dalecarlia)
A classic destination for cottages, offering a forest and lake natural setting ideal for recreation.
West Coast (Bohuslän)
A popular rocky archipelago, especially for second homes of Gothenburg residents.
Scania (Skåne)
A southern region with a milder climate, attractive for second homes, with countryside and coastal landscapes.
Swedish Lapland
An area of mountains and vast natural spaces, a destination for second homes often oriented towards winter activities and wilderness.
Gotland Island
A Baltic Sea island destination, very attractive in summer for its second homes and unique heritage.
| Region / Type of territory | Role of Second Homes | Dominant Effect on the Real Estate Market |
|---|---|---|
| Stockholm Archipelago | Most attractive region for second homes | Sharp increase in values, pressure on local homeownership |
| Southern Mountains (Dalecarlia, Jämtland Härjedalen) | Significant stock of vacation cabins | Supports the market in areas with declining demographics |
| Öland and Southeast Coast | Historical seaside destination | Seasonal market, strong summer demand, rising prices |
| Small rural municipalities with a high proportion of fritidshusområden | Over 50% of houses used as second homes | Prices disconnected from local incomes, dependence on tourism |
In practice, the demand for second homes contributes to widening spatial inequalities. A vast analysis of single-family houses sold between 1999 and 2017 shows a growing gap between the values of second homes in highly attractive areas – coastline, mountains, archipelago – and those in less touristic inland regions. Tourism therefore doesn’t just create niche markets; it reshapes the very geography of real estate values.
Coastal and archipelago tourism: between a desire for tranquility and soaring prices
Sweden’s maritime coastline is immense: nearly 300,000 km² of coastal areas are mentioned, including archipelagos, Baltic and North Sea shores. These spaces concentrate a major share of tourism and a significant proportion of second homes. They are also at the heart of strong tensions between tourist attractiveness, environmental preservation, and housing access.
Stockholm Archipelago: a laboratory of tensions
The Stockholm archipelago is identified as the most attractive second-home region in the country. Islands like Blidö, Ingmarsö, or Sandö have been closely studied: the number of second homes there far exceeds that of year-round occupied homes, and land value has skyrocketed.
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85% of visitors to the Luleå archipelago come primarily for peace and quiet.
The study on Luleå also reveals that visitors who own a second home or who return regularly develop a strong “place identity”: 61% of them declare a strong or very strong attachment to the archipelago. This attachment often translates into a willingness to invest more, renovate, expand, or buy a home closer to the waterfront, contributing to the scarcity of available properties and price tensions.
Marine tourism as an economic… and land-use driver
National figures confirm the weight of the coastline in tourism and, consequently, in real estate: in 2010, coastal and marine tourism generated a total turnover between 58.6 and 75.2 billion SEK, representing between 23% and 29% of Sweden’s entire tourism industry. A specific segment is dedicated to “vacation housing linked to marine recreation,” which notably includes seaside second homes.
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Marstrand records nearly 60,000 commercial overnight stays per year, illustrating its tourist appeal.
Price data shows that coastal vacation homes appreciate faster than the national average. In Västra Götaland, seaside vacation homes saw their average price per square meter increase by about 3.9% in one year to reach around €2,650/m², with a price increase for houses of 5.7% compared to 3.3% nationally. This outperformance testifies to the premium attached to tourist location and water access.
For local households, the consequence is clear: homeownership becomes more difficult, and the pressure shifts to the already limited permanent rental stock.
Short-term rentals: the “touristification” of city centers
While second homes primarily structure rural and coastal markets, the rise of short-term rentals through platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com is disrupting urban markets. Sweden is not immune to this European trend, even if levels remain, for now, lower than in cities like Barcelona or Paris.
Stockholm, a testing ground for Airbnb effects
Stockholm is the main tourist destination in the country, with over 15 million commercial overnight stays in 2019, and around 9.7 million overnight stays in 2024, including 4.3 million international visitors. This tourist pressure is concentrated in a few neighborhoods: Gamla Stan, the medieval old town, Djurgården park, but also the gentrified neighborhoods of Södermalm and the upscale central districts.
0.15
Each entire-home Airbnb listing in Stockholm was associated on average with the disappearance of 0.15 year-round occupied apartments between 2012 and 2016.
In other words, the rise of short-term rentals creates a “rent gap”: the prospect of much higher income from renting to tourists incentivizes owners – individuals or investors – to withdraw housing from the traditional residential market. In a context where the average waiting time for a regulated rental apartment reaches nearly 9 to 9.4 years in Stockholm, with over 775,000 to 800,000 people in the queue, each apartment “converted” into tourist accommodation weighs on the shortage.
Rents, already high – a one-bedroom apartment in the city center easily rents for 12,000 to 15,000 SEK per month on the open market – are soaring in the most sought-after neighborhoods, while purchase prices flirt with 90,000 to 110,000 SEK/m² in Östermalm or Vasastan.
Uppsala and the indirect effects of “touristification”
While Uppsala is not primarily a tourist market, studies conducted on the renovation of large housing estates in Gränby and Kvarngärdet help understand how real estate valuation logics – sometimes stimulated by a city’s increased attractiveness – can generate a form of displacement. In these neighborhoods, renovation works starting in 2009 led to rent increases of 25% to 60%, forcing many low-income households to move to cheaper areas.
Tip:
Improving the image and built environment, coupled with rising land values and rents, can lead to a phenomenon of gentrification and touristification. This process, similar to that observed in heavily frequented historic centers, has the consequence of pushing working-class residents and newcomers towards the peripheries.
A regulatory framework still being fine-tuned
The Swedish legal framework governing short-term rentals rests on several pillars: the Land Code (Jordabalken), whose chapter 12 – the Rental Law (Hyreslagen) – governs residential leases, municipal regulations, and the bylaws of housing cooperatives (bostadsrättsföreningar).
On a practical level, renting a home on Airbnb in Sweden involves respecting:
Tip:
Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.
On his website, cyriljarnias.com, he shares his expertise on international real estate, offshore company formation, and expatriation.
Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.
