The effect of market rent on condominium prices : A comparison between Stockholm and Malmö

Sammanfattning: The Swedish rental market is suffering from several complications that can be derived from the utility-value-system regulating the market. A deregulation of the ineffective utility-value-system has for long been discouraged by the estimations of a market rent, commonly drawn from the pricing of condominiums. Yet, such estimations are problematic, not accounting for the market’s differences and the deregulation effect on condominium prices. The purpose of this study is to examine the overlooked aspect of how the distance of the utility-value-system to market rent affects condominium prices. This study explores the two markets of Stockholm and Malmö and their respective rental system’s proximity to market rent. The distance to market rent is an external attribute, among others, included in our constructed hedonic model which defines condominium prices. By using regression analysis, the contribution of each attribute to the condominium prices are estimated. The results of this study provide an interesting and overlooked aspect of the Swedish housing market, namely that the distance of the utility-value-system to market rent cause an increase in condominium prices. It illustrates how the greater the distance to market rent is, the greater is the excess demand of rental apartments which entails a larger increase in prices of the substitutive condominiums. Conversely, an increase in rent levels towards market rent implies a decrease in condominium prices.