Housing and housing production
Housing
There are 1.8 million dwellings in the Öresund region. Of these dwellings, 1.2 million are on the Danish side and 0.6 million are on the Swedish side. The percentage of apartments in multi-dwelling buildings, small apartments and rental apartments is a bit higher on the Swedish side, while the dwellings on the Danish side are the oldest. Two thirds of the dwellings in the region are concentrated to the densely populated Capital Region of Denmark and south-western Skåne. The housing structure in the Capital Region of Denmark and south-western Skåne are similar to each other, with a large percentage of apartments in multi-dwelling buildings, as is especially apparent in Copenhagen and Malmö where nearly half of the dwellings are smaller (1-2 room) dwellings, most of which are rental dwellings. The dwellings in the city centres are also old, especially in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, where over 250 000 or 81 percent of the dwellings were built before 1961 and 37 percent were built before 1921. Most of these dwellings have been modernised, but despite extensive urban renewal and improvements, there are still many older dwellings in Copenhagen municipality that are in bad condition; more than 30 000 or 12 percent lack modern amenities such as bathrooms, toilets and central heating.
At the same time, other parts of Öresund DK and Öresund SE outside of Copenhagen and Malmö are not characterised by multi-dwelling buildings but instead have a large proportion of one- or two dwelling buildings (single family houses, terraced houses etc.). Dwellings here are also particularly large with three or more rooms, and dwellings that are tenant-owned are much more common. Beyond the densely populated areas there are relatively few apartments in multi-dwelling buildings, small apartments and rental apartments, but they exist somewhat more in Öresund SE than in Öresund DK. The older dwellings are found mostly in the centre of the region and in parts of the surrounding areas.
The housing structure and housing prices influence the structure of families and households. Copenhagen and Malmö have somewhat lower percentages of families with children than the surrounding municipalities and both cities have the small percentage of one- or two-dwelling houses in the housing stock while there are many smaller apartments. One- or two-dwelling houses are often found in the outer areas of the region, while families with children usually live in the greater Copenhagen and Malmö area. However, different studies show that it has become more common for young families with children to remain in the city after their first child and until they have their second child. One particular reason for this is the frozen housing market with very high housing costs for first-time buyers.- Structure of housing stock 1 Jan 2009
Source: Örestat, Statistics Sweden and Statistics Denmark
