Budgivning in Sweden: how the bidding process works

In many countries you buy a flat at a negotiated price. In Sweden you buy it in a transparent bidding round that the estate agent coordinates by text message or phone. If you don't understand that, you will lose out in your first weeks on Hemnet, either by overreacting or by pulling out at the wrong moment.

Over the last two years I have seen the process many times from two angles: as a photographer who shoots the properties before the visning (viewing), and as someone who talks to buyers who want to give up in frustration after losing three bids. This article is an attempt to make both perspectives useful.

The bidding process is one step among several. If you want to know how buying a house in Sweden works from the first visning to getting the keys, read the overview first. Bidding only makes sense in context.

Utgångspris is not a price, it's a starting signal

The price shown on Hemnet is called the utgångspris (starting price). It is often translated as "asking price", which is completely misleading. In reality, the utgångspris is an entry price calculated by the estate agent to draw the first bidders into the process.

How much does the price go above the starting price?

Here you have to keep two figures apart, and almost all German-language guides confuse them.

The official statistic is called the budpremie (bid premium) and averages over all sales, including those where nobody comes forward and the property goes at the starting price or below. For March 2026, Hemnet reports a national average of +1.1 per cent for flats and −1.1 per cent for houses. For flats, Stockholm leads at +4.8 per cent, while several regions are clearly in negative territory. If you only read this figure, you will think budgivning is a formality.

The second figure is the one that affects you: what happens when there actually is a bidding round? Then things look different. I photograph in Gothenburg and Bohuslän and see the contested properties up close. For sought-after bostadsrätter (cooperative flats) in Linnéstaden or Vasastan, double-digit premiums are nothing unusual. That is my observation from practice, not a statistic, and I am explicitly labelling it as such.

The practical conclusion from both: the average doesn't help you. Either nobody comes forward, in which case you get the property close to the starting price. Or it becomes contested, in which case you need a figure at which you walk away, and you need it before the visning, not during the round.

If you treat the utgångspris as a realistic purchase price, your calculation will be off. If you set your own upper limit before the visning and write it down, you are closer to reality than any average.

How the process works in practice

After the visning, the mäklare (estate agent) takes the details of everyone who's interested. If you want to bid, you give the agent your phone number and your first bid, usually the utgångspris or slightly above.

As soon as at least two interested parties have placed bids, the budgivning starts. The agent sends all bidders a text message or calls them as soon as a new bid has come in. The increments are usually 25,000 or 50,000 SEK per round, sometimes 100,000 SEK for more expensive properties.

You then typically get a few hours, sometimes only 30 minutes, to respond. If you don't answer, you're out. If you bid, you push the price further. The process ends when nobody bids any more.

Important: in Sweden, budgivning is not legally binding until the purchase contract has been signed. In theory, you can still withdraw even after placing the highest bid. In practice, you ruin your reputation with that agent, and the mäklare world in Gothenburg is small. My advice: only bid what you are actually prepared to pay.

The three mistakes newcomers regularly make

Mistake 1: bidding too high too early. Coming from a fixed-price mindset, you think: "I'll bid 5 per cent over the utgångspris straight away, that shows I'm serious." In Sweden, all it shows is that you don't know the system. Other bidders see a high early bid as an invitation to follow, and the price climbs faster.

Better: make your first bid at the utgångspris or 25,000 SEK above it. Watch how many others join in. Only then raise strategically.

Mistake 2: pulling out at the first increase. If you give up after one round, in the vast majority of cases you will find that the property eventually went for only 100,000 SEK above your last bid. On a 4-million-SEK property that is 2.5 per cent: negotiating room you don't give up if you really want the property.

Mistake 3: letting the frequency of text messages put you under pressure. Mäklare work at speed. If you get three texts within 20 minutes asking whether you are raising, it feels like the pressure in an auction room. In reality it is a deliberately set pace, so that nobody steps back to think. You are allowed to pause. You are also allowed to say: "I'll let you know in an hour." A good agent respects that, because they know that buyers who take time to think end up being more reliable buyers.

What you need to have decided before your first bid

Before you go into your first bidding round, you need three figures in writing in front of you:

Maximum price. The figure at which you are out, no compromise. Under pressure, it becomes tempting to revise this figure upwards. Write it down before the visning, not during it.

Lånelöfte (loan commitment) from your bank. Without a lånelöfte you are effectively unable to bid in Sweden. The bank gives you a firm commitment on how much it will finance. Without this commitment, reputable mäklare will ignore you. You can get a lånelöfte from SEB, Handelsbanken, Swedbank or Nordea; processing takes between three days and two weeks.

Deposit. Since 1 April 2026 the bolånetak (mortgage cap) is 90 per cent, so you need to bring at least 10 per cent of the purchase price plus the additional costs yourself. That is the legal minimum, not what your bank requires: for buyers from abroad who are only starting to build a Swedish credit history, 20 to 30 per cent is still normal in practice. This figure affects how much the bank will finance at all.

What mäklare won't explain unless you ask

Three things you need to research yourself or ask about specifically:

The bidding history of similar properties. Hemnet shows you slutpriser (final prices) from the last 12 months for comparable properties in the neighbourhood. These figures are your most important negotiating tool. If you don't do the research, you are bidding blind.

The avgift on a bostadsrätt. A flat with a low utgångspris but a high monthly avgift (association fee) can be more expensive than one with a higher price and a low avgift. The avgift doesn't go into the bid price, but it goes into your monthly costs for decades.

Andra bud (competing bids). You are allowed to ask the agent: "How many active bidders are in the process?" and "When was the last bid?" A reputable mäklare will answer. An answer like "It's very active" without numbers is a warning sign.

When you should pull out of the process

There comes a point where a bidding process stops making sense, and where you as the buyer keep bidding out of emotional attachment. Three signs that it's time to pull out:

The price has gone past your maximum and you are talking yourself into it. That happens more often than most buyers admit.

You have the feeling you are bidding against a single other bidder who immediately counters every step you take, and it has gone on like that for five rounds. In that case, your pain threshold is being deliberately tested.

The avgift, the pantbrev situation of the bostadsrättsförening (housing association) or a hidden renovation backlog break the maths. A flat can look right on paper and be an expensive mistake in reality.

The role of the estate agent, and why it's different from what you may know

In Sweden, the mäklare formally represents both sides, buyer and seller. They receive their commission from the seller (freely negotiable), but they have a legal duty to advise both parties.

That sounds like a conflict of interest, and sometimes it is. But it also means you can ask the mäklare questions that would be out of place in many other countries. Ask about the förening's renovation fund. Ask about the latest energideklaration (energy performance certificate) value. Ask why the seller is selling. A mäklare who doesn't answer, or answers evasively, is not the mäklare you want to do business with.

My practical advice from two years of watching

The most important mental trick: you are not bidding against another buyer. You are bidding against your own maximum. If you take that on board, you stay rational in the bidding round. If you start wanting to "beat" the other bidder, you lose, either money or the property, because you went too high and the financing doesn't go through.

My second piece of advice: go to at least three visningar before you bid for the first time. You need a feel for how bidding rounds develop in your target segment. That gut feeling doesn't cost a penny, and it can save you six-figure sums later.

Planning to buy a house in Gothenburg or on the west coast? I know mäklare in Gothenburg, Bohuslän and Halland personally and can help you get your bearings in the market before your first visning. Drop me a line at hallo@nordabenteuer.de or book a free 15-minute slot on the consulting page.

Read on:

• Finding a flat in Gothenburg as a newcomer
• Buying in spring in Gothenburg: why April and May are the best moment

Facing a specific bidding round and want to know what the property is really worth? Send me the Hemnet link. I'll look at the avgift, the förening and the realistic range for the final price, and write it up for you in two pages, in English or German. Property check, €149.

Buying a House in Sweden: Practical Guide, the in-depth guide on this topic, is currently available in German: view it in the shop.

I'm Sebastian Schiefner, a photographer in Gothenburg, and I help people who are moving to West Sweden with finding a home and buying property. Free intro call.