Many different views on house prices

Date 29/11/2010

On Friday 12 November the Riksbank organised a well-attended workshop on the risks in the Swedish housing market. Around one hundred academics and representatives of central banks from Sweden and other countries had been invited and took part in the discussions. Topics discussed at the workshop included the reasons for developments in house prices in Sweden and abroad and for the increased household debts, as well as the tools available to avoid both exaggerated house prices and financial crises in the wake of property bubbles.

 
”We at the Riksbank have been discussing house prices and credit growth for ten years now. There are many different views regarding house prices in Sweden. “The Economist” newspaper recently described a 40-per cent over-valuation in Sweden, while others claim that house prices are justified on the basis of fundamentals such as the tax system, population growth, construction of new housing and growth in incomes,” said Stefan Ingves when he opened the workshop.

The workshop formed part of the current housing inquiry agreed by the Executive Board of the Riksbank earlier this year. Its purpose was to capture various research results and conclusions that may be of interest to the Riksbank's inquiry. Some of the articles and reports presented at the workshop can be downloaded under the link below. The opinions and conclusions presented at the workshop are those of the participants.

The contributions and background reports for the Riksbank's inquiry should be complete at the beginning of next year, but the results of the inquiry will be published some time later.