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Households in mid-life pay most for their housing

Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2018-12-14 9.30

Average housing costs of households are SEK 80 000 per year. Housing costs vary in different forms of tenure. Households in owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling houses pay SEK 87 000 on average, while households in rented dwellings and owner-occupied apartments pay SEK 75 000 for their housing.

Housing costs also vary with household members’ age. Households with heads of household aged 30 to 49 years pay most for their housing, while households with heads of household aged 70 to 79 years have the lowest housing costs.

Housing cost per household, by age of head of household, 2017, average value in SEK thousands
Head of household’s age Housing costs, SEK thousands Margin of error, SEK thousands
18-29 years 67.9 3.1
30–39 years 94.1 3.7
40–49 years 94.8 3.2
50–59 years 86.2 3.6
60–64 years 77.1 4.0
65–69 years 71.2 3.9
70–79 years 62.8 2.2
80+ years 63.6 2.9
total age 79.6 1.1

Housing costs by age differ the least among households in rented dwellings and the most among households in owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling houses. Households in rented dwellings that pay the most, SEK 81 000, are those where the head of household is aged 40 to 49 years. Households that pay the least are those where the head of household is aged 70 to 79 years. These pay SEK 7 000 less than the households with the largest cost. In owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling houses, households with heads of household aged 30 to 39 years pay the most for their housing, SEK 125 000 on average. Households with heads of household aged 70 years or older pay roughly half that amount.

Interest fees and amortisation vary by age

Housing costs for households in rented dwellings consist mainly of the monthly rent to the landlord, while costs for households in owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling houses consist of several different parts that add up to the housing cost. Expenses such as property fee, heating cost, other maintenance costs, and homeowners’ insurance does not vary greatly by household age. These are costs that most households in owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling houses pay. However, there is great variation in costs connected with housing loans, such as interest fee and amortisation. These are costs that older households, to a greater extent, lack.

Households with heads of household aged 30 to 49 years pay roughly SEK 20 000 per year in interest fee and ground rent (after tax reduction) and tax on deferred capital from the sale of a previous dwelling, while households aged older than 70 years pay less than SEK 5 000 on

Interest fee, ground rent, and tax on deferred capital from the sale of a previous dwelling, after tax reduction, 2017, average value in SEK thousands
Head of household’s ageInterest fee, ground rent and tax on deferred capital, SEK thousandsMargin of error, SEK thousands
18-29 years .. ..
30–39 years 23.0 1.6
40–49 years 20.3 1.4
50–59 years 13.6 1.3
60–64 years 9.7 1.6
65–69 years 6.9 1.2
70–79 years 4.8 0.9
80+ years 3.5 1.2
age, total 12.9 0.5

In the table, (..) indicates that information is too uncertain to present.

Households whose heads of household are in the age group 30-39 years pay instalments of roughly SEK 30 000 per year on average, and households whose heads of household are aged 70 years and older pay instalments of SEK 5 000 per year on average. Maintenance and repair costs also vary with the age of the household. Here too, households aged 30 to 39 years have the highest costs, SEK 30 000 per year. Corresponding costs for households with a head of household aged 70 to 79 years is SEK 10 000.

Definitions and explanations

Owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling building/house refers to a detached single family house, a semi-detached house, a terraced house or a link-attached house owned by the household.

Owner-occupied apartment: An owner-occupied apartment is an apartment situated in a one- or two-dwelling house or multi-dwelling building that is owned by an owners’ association, in which one is a member.

Rented dwelling: Rented dwellings refer primarily to rented dwellings, both in one- or two-dwelling houses and multi-dwelling buildings.

Housing costs, rented dwelling: Housing costs consist of the sum of the rent and individual fees for maintenance and repairs.

Housing costs, owner-occupied apartment: Housing costs refer to the sum of fees to the tenant-owners’ society, interest fees and amortisation as well as individual fees for maintenance and repairs. These costs are adjusted with consideration to tax effects.

Housing costs, owner-occupied one- or two-dwelling building/house: Housing costs refer to the sum of interest fees, amortisation, operating costs (such as heating, water, sewerage and garbage collection) and fees for maintenance and repair, and is adjusted with regard to tax effects.

Tax effects refer to a decrease or increase in tax due to tax reduction for capital losses and for maintenance and repair that related to the dwelling and the household’s property tax for the dwelling. In addition, any interest on deferred capital from housing sales of a previous dwelling is included.

Disposable income is the sum of taxable and tax-free income minus taxes and negative transfers.

Households refer to housekeeping units. Housekeeping units refer to people who live in the same dwelling and have a joint economy. A housekeeping unit also includes children aged 20 years and older who are living with their parents. A housekeeping unit can consist of several generations, siblings or friends who live together and have a joint economy.

The survey is based on a random sample of individuals aged 18 years and older, and households to which the selected individuals belong. The values in the tables are estimates of true value in the population. Uncertainty in the estimates is expressed with a confidence interval formed by estimate ± margin of error. The confidence interval contains the true population value, with a probability of 95 percent.

Statistical Database

More information is available in the Statistical Database

Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.

Statistical agency and producer

Population and Economic Welfare statistics unit

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Lovisa Sköld

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