The impact of COVID-19 on various aspects of our life is evident. Proximity and close contact with individuals infected with the virus, and the extent of such contact, contribute to the intensity of the spread of the virus. Healthy and infected household members who both require sanctuary and quarantine space come into close and extended contact in housing. In other words, housing and living conditions can impact the health of occupants and the spread of COVID-19. This study investigates the relationship between housing characteristics and variations in the spread of COVID-19 per capita across Sweden’s 290 municipalities. For this purpose, we have used the number of infected COVID-19 cases per capita during the pandemic period—February 2020 through April 2021—per municipality. The focus is on variables that measure housing and housing conditions in the municipalities. We use exploratory analysis and Principal Components Analysis to reduce highly correlated variables into a set of linearly uncorrelated variables. We then use the generated variables to estimate direct and indirect effects in a spatial regression analysis. The results indicate that housing and housing availability are important explanatory factors for the geographical spread of COVID-19. Overcrowding, availability, and quality are all critical explanatory factors.

Who owns the city, and why is it important to know? The city constantly makes decisions that affect municipal residents regarding municipal services, land use, and financing. The cost is often linked directly to the municipal residents, but the benefits of some decisions directly affect the property owners and only indirectly affect the municipal residents. On the other hand, the property owners can be residents in the city or the country, but they can also be foreign property owners. Therefore, the distribution of costs will differ from the distribution of benefits. The study aims to investigate and analyse real estate owners in some focus areas in the Stockholm municipality in terms of nationality, patterns of real estate usage, area of properties, and the nature of ownership.

The issue of schools and their capitalization in property values has been analyzed extensively. Our contribution is to analyze this effect in an alternative institutional context. In this case study, we analyzed the housing market in Stockholm, Sweden. What distinguishes the Swedish school system is that we have a free choice of schools, which means that a family does not necessarily have to live in a school district to access the schools in that area. This means that families do not have to move to the district to which they intend to send their children but can apply to send them there regardless of whether they live there or not. Nevertheless, families might be interested in living close to good schools to be within walking distance of these schools. This is especially true at the primary school level. Therefore, we analyzed schools’ capitalization in property values in the context of free school choice. We used data on transaction prices for condominiums in Stockholm’s inner city. The results indicate a capitalization of living close to good schools, but this capitalization is limited. We can show that schools’ capitalization depends partly on the quality of the schools and partly on whether or not they are co-located with other externalities, such as green areas. The results also indicate that capitalization is affected by income differences within the city.

Public Housing Companies (PHCs) play an important role in the Swedish housing market, with approximately 300 companies managing circa 802,000 dwellings. The public housing sector thereby represents almost 20 percent of the total housing stock in Sweden and half of the apartments that are available for rental. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the most important factors behind the profitability in Swedish PHCs between 2010 and 2019. The effects of internal growth, age, and capital structure in the PHCs are analyzed together with the effect of the growth of the local market, as well as local rent levels. Financial information for circa 300 PHCs in Sweden was gathered from annual reports published between 2010 to 2019. The financial information was analyzed using panel data analysis methods with several explanatory variables to explain the financial performance of the PHCs. The results from the analysis indicate a highly significant and positive relationship between the annual change in population, age, and profitability in the PHC. A highly significant and negative relationship was found between the PHC internal growth, capital structure, and profitability. The results showed no significant relationship between changes in income, rent levels, and profitability in Swedish PHC.