According to Region Stockholm, it takes on average at least five years for these groups to save up for a down payment. Of the 51,000 homes sold in the region in 2024, a single nurse could afford 33 percent, while a childminder could afford only 10 percent. The affordability assumes high savings, maximum loans, and a strained personal economy.
Access to rental housing is strongly limited by both queue time and cost levels. Affordable rental housing often requires a long queue time, making it difficult for people who have recently moved to the region. Newly produced rental housing generally has shorter queue times, but rents are so high that many in the relevant professional groups have difficulty affording them.
Only about 1,500 rental homes, or nine percent of the supply, were available within one year of queue time, and a third of these were newly built. Housing opportunities are generally better in the region's outer areas and in areas where living conditions are often more socioeconomically vulnerable. The report warns that young and newly arrived people in socially important professions have difficulty establishing themselves on the housing market, which risks complicating both recruitment and labor market mobility.
Female-dominated professions such as assistant nurse and childminder have lower salary levels, meaning women are particularly hard hit. The housing shortage affects the region's skills supply and attractiveness, and can lead to longer commutes and increased regional imbalances.