This week I’ll be heading to Sweden for my first trip outside the United States. While I’m not going to be scoping out office properties on my vacation, the market had a good start to 2016. As noted in the June issue of Institutional Real Estate Europe: “Sweden leads the way as the Nordics power ahead.”
Sweden experienced strong economic growth and an expanding office market in first quarter 2016. Stockholm and Gothenburg were the best-performing markets, with a significant amount of new and refurbished office properties, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Sweden Office Market Snapshot.
Malmö and Gothenburg have a large number of new projects that will be completed this year, though most of the properties in Malmö are already fully leased. Stockholm, however, has very few new projects under development, despite a strong demand.
Investment in the first quarter was up 43 percent in Sweden. Value-added property funds are the biggest buyers in the region. Rents are increasing due to strong demand, but the limited supply in Stockholm may stunt growth through the rest of the year.
And here’s a round-up of recent Swedish stories in IREN:
- Partners Group purchases €450m Nordic portfolio
- Castellum to bid for Swedish portfolio
- Nordic real estate fund raises $95m
- Akelius sells 119 properties for $614m
- Northern Horizon holds €121m first close of Nordic senior living fund
The views, statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.
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Zoë Wolff is a reporter with Institutional Real Estate, Inc.