Swedes expect property prices will rise, almost half of teenage boys at risk of gaming addiction, Iranian nurse couple granted review from deportation and more news from Sweden on Monday.
Swedes expect property prices to rise this year
The year’s first property price indicator from SEB bank has been released, and it shows that Swedes generally expect property prices to rise this year, with fewer opting for fixed mortgage rates.
“If households are to be believed, the ice is about to crack on the property market,” SEB household finance expert Américo Fernández wrote in a press statement.
More than half of households predicted prices would rise, with that number rising to three quarters among young people.
“Household expectations are slightly ahead of actual property prices and they reflect the year’s broad tax cuts and more generous mortgage rules coming into effect this spring,” Fernández said.
The number of households planning on switching to a fixed-term mortgage dropped to 6 percent, down from 7 percent last month and from 11 percent as a 2025 average.
Swedish vocabulary: förväntningar ‒ expectations
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Almost half of Swedish boys at risk of gaming addiction
A new Swedish study has shown that 44 percent of Swedish boys are at risk of developing a gaming addiction. The study, carried out by the local region in Jönköping along with Jönköping University, interviewed over 5,000 Swedes aged 15-17 in the region in the autumn of 2023.
It showed that 27.8 of respondents were at risk of developing a gaming addiction ‒ 12 percent of girls and 44 percent of boys.
Gunilla Björling, co-author of the report and professor at the university, described it as a “huge problem”.
“As well as time spent gaming, mental illness is also a clear risk factor for boys, while a sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor for girls,” she said.
“This is a real addiction, so it’s important to define who is in the risk zone. And then it’s important to work individually to prevent any issues from arising.”
The study used the so-called Gaming Disorder Test (GDT), which is an established tool building on the definition of gaming addiction formulated by the World Health Organisation.
Swedish vocabulary: spelberoende ‒ gaming addiction
Iranian nurse couple facing deportation from Sweden granted review
Zahra Kazemipour and Afshad Joubeh, the Iranian couple whose impending deportation has become a major story in the Swedish media, have been granted a review, postponing their removal from the country.
Kazemipour and Joubeh, both assistant nurses, had been ordered to leave from Sweden by December 22nd, along with their two children, after a government decision to abolish the rule which allowed them to stay in the country.
The couple told The Local of their struggle before Christmas, complaining that they faced deportation despite having done everything that had been asked of them.
Their deportation order sparked major protests among their colleagues at Södersjukhuset Hospital in Stockholm, but the family will be allowed to stay in Sweden temporarily as a new review has been granted, according to TV4.
Swedish vocabulary: stanna ‒ stay
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Swedish agency name change will cost 10 million kronor
The Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) changed its name to the Civil Defence Agency (MCF) on January 1st, with the cost of the name change estimated by SVT to be 10 million kronor of taxpayer funds.
According to SVT, those costs include “everything from relabelling vehicles, materials and uniform to creating new external and internal information documents”.
The minister responsible, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, told SVT that he “assumes the agency is doing this in the most cost effective way possible.”
Last year, the agency’s director-general Mikael Frisell told the TT newswire that the agency’s tasks will be the same as before, although clearer.
“It highlights that we are the authority leading, directing and coordinating Sweden’s entire civil defence,” he said.
Swedish vocabulary: Myndigheten för civilt försvar ‒ the Civil Defence Agency