Housing queues in Sweden.
Sweden's rental market runs on queues. Most apartments are allocated by waiting time, not market rent. Here's how it works for international residents and expats.
How Swedish housing queues work
Each Swedish municipality (kommun) has at least one municipal housing company (allmännyttan) that runs its own queue. You register, accumulate queue points (köpoäng) measured in days, and receive offers when apartments become available. Most queues are free. The exceptions include Bostadsförmedlingen in Stockholm (200 SEK/year), Boplats Syd in Skåne (300 SEK/year), Uppsala Bostadsförmedling (305 SEK/year).
Queue times vary a lot. Bostadsförmedlingen in Stockholm averaged 9 years in 2025 (21 years for the inner city), Boplats in Gothenburg 6.8 years and Boplats Syd 3.2 years (2025). Uppsala Bostadsförmedling averaged 4.0 years in 2024 (median 2.6). The trick is to register in multiple queues at the same time, because points don't transfer between landlords.
For students: Stockholm, Lund and Gothenburg have separate student housing foundations (SSSB, AF Bostäder and SGS), while in Uppsala student housing is let through Uppsala Bostadsförmedling. Register as early as each queue allows, because queue time counts in days.
New to the system? Start with the complete guide
How queue points work, what the queues cost, which queues matter, and how to avoid losing years of queue time.
Read the complete English guide to housing queues in Sweden →Major Swedish cities
Stockholm
Sweden's capital has the longest queues in the country. Most rentals go through Bostadsförmedlingen (200 SEK/year).
Read the Stockholm guide →
Gothenburg
Sweden's second largest city, with Boplats Göteborg and student housing for Chalmers and GU.
Read the Gothenburg guide →
Malmö
Sweden's third largest city. MKB Malmö has 26 000 apartments and lets them through Boplats Syd.
Read the Malmö guide →
Uppsala
University city. Uppsalahem has about 18 400 homes, including some 4 400 student flats.
Read the Uppsala guide →
Lund
University city where LKF and AF Bostäder dominate.
Read the Lund guide →
Linköping
Home to LiU and Saab aerospace. Stångåstaden has ~18 800 apartments, and first-year students get a housing guarantee.
Read the Linköping guide →
Västerås
ABB city one hour from Stockholm. Mimer has ~12 000 apartments and far shorter queues.
Read the Västerås guide →
Örebro
University city. ÖBO has ~22 800 apartments and publishes no average queue time.
Read the Örebro guide →
Helsingborg
Gateway to Denmark with a ferry to Helsingør. Helsingborgshem has ~12 000 apartments.
Read the Helsingborg guide →
Jönköping
On Lake Vättern, with Jönköping University. Vätterhem has ~9 200 apartments.
Read the Jönköping guide →
Umeå
Home to Umeå University (~36 000 students). Bostaden has ~16 000 apartments.
Read the Umeå guide →
Norrköping
Cultural and tech hub 1.5 hours from Stockholm. Hyresbostäder has ~9 700 apartments.
Read the Norrköping guide →
Sundsvall
Home to Mid Sweden University and a banking sector. Mitthem has ~5 800 apartments.
Read the Sundsvall guide →
Luleå
Northern tech hub with LTU. Lulebo has ~7 750 apartments and a free queue from age 15.
Read the Luleå guide →
Karlstad
University city on Lake Vänern. KBAB has ~7 900 apartments and a free queue.
Read the Karlstad guide →
Halmstad
Coastal city between Gothenburg and Malmö. HFAB has ~10 800 apartments.
Read the Halmstad guide →
Borås
Sweden's textile capital, one hour from Gothenburg. AB Bostäder has ~6 200 apartments.
Read the Borås guide →
Gävle
Gavlegårdarna has just over 14 000 apartments and is the largest landlord in Gävleborg county.
Read the Gävle guide →
Housing queues by region (län)
Swedish counties have their own sets of municipal queues. Browse 20 counties below. The county pages are in Swedish and list the housing queues and municipalities in each county.
Key terms
- Allmännyttan
- Municipal housing companies, the largest landlords in most Swedish cities.
- Bostadsrätt
- Cooperative apartment ownership. Common in Sweden and similar to a condo.
- Hyresrätt
- First-hand rental contract, allocated mainly by queue.
- Andrahandskontrakt
- Sublet contract. Common as a stopgap while building queue points.
- Köpoäng
- Queue points, counted in days from registration.
- Bostadsförmedlingen
- The Stockholm housing exchange. It handles ~190 000 apartments across 24 municipalities.
Track all your queues with Boio Kö
Boio Kö keeps track of your housing queues and their renewals. What it can do varies by operator. 20 SEK every 28 days, 7-day trial. Cancel anytime.
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