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Comment by SiempreViernes | Hacker News Reader

Bah, stick to the truth: 20 years is for the decent but super cheap apartments, if you pay “market rates” you can get something from the private owners within months.

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I don't think that's true. The private renters also have to abide to the regulated market prices, so you cannot buy your way to a rental apartment. Not unless the renter is breaking the law, that is.

I admit that I pulled the 20 years stats out of a hat. I quickly looked for some stats, and this page suggests around 10 years average for the private market, and 13 years for the communal: https://www.stockholmdirekt.se/nyheter/sa-lange-maste-du-koa...

The truth is that the existing system with regulated market prices ensures that ordinary people can save some of their wages and spend it on things like summer houses and holidays. As soon as you go fully private, rental prices double and all of that profit goes to a 1% who own housing. Of course, there is a narrative here that we have to abandon the regulated rental market - driven by that 1%. Then ordinary people, excluded from the regulated rental market because they have to wait 20 years to get the place they want, gang up with the 1% - which is insane! The truth is you can get a regulated rental appartment within 6 months if you take it in a crap neighborhood. But, everyone wants to live in the same places, and demand is high. So, the regulated market makes you queue - based on your waiting time, not ability to pay. There is, of course, a huge private ownership market, but prices are very high.

It is totally true. Source - I live in Stockholm, its hard but you can get somewhere in weeks not years

By "you” I think he means most swedes. I don’t know anything about the Stockholm rent market, are rents cost accessible to the average person or is a top-teir-income zone?

They are “too” affordable due to rent control, especially in the city centre. Leading to people viewing a contract as an asset that shouldn’t be given up for free but rather traded for another contract or sold (illegal).

All rents follow a standard model based on a number of parameters, but it's purposely constructed to enable lower-income household to aquire apartments in attractive locations. At the time of inception, the construction was considered an alternative to dedicated social housing.

An article on the current situation: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/19/why-stockholm-...

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