Stockholm housing queue

Rent an apartment through the housing queue in eight steps

1. 1

   Step 1: Register at bostad.stockholm.se from the day you turn 18. You need a Swedish personal identity number or coordination number.

2. 2

   Step 2: Pay the queue fee of 200 kronor every year. The queue time is counted from the day you registered.

3. 3

   Step 3: Read the landlord's terms in the advert, for example income requirements, before you express interest.

4. 4

   Step 4: Apply for up to three apartments at a time. New-build homes and senior housing are not included.

5. 5

   Step 5: Go to the viewing and say yes or no. Two cancellations in six months result in a three-month ban.

6. 6

   Step 6: Sign the contract with the landlord. Never pay anyone to get a contract.

   § 12 kap. 65 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

7. 7

   Step 7: Terminate your current rental apartment in writing. The notice period is three months to the end of the month.

   § 12 kap. 4 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

   § 12 kap. 8 § jordabalken (1970:994), checked 3 October 2026

8. 8

   Step 8: Register with the population registration at your new address when you move in, at the latest one week after the move.

   § 25 § folkbokföringslag (1991:481), checked 3 October 2026

How does Bostadsförmedlingen work?

Bostadsförmedlingen in Stockholm AB is a municipal company owned by the City of Stockholm and working on behalf of the municipal council. The company does not own any housing itself. The city's housing companies provide all their available apartments to the agency, and in 2024, more than half of the mediated housing came from private property owners. In 2025, apartments were mediated in all municipalities in Stockholm County and in Strängnäs.

Bostadsförmedlingen does not send out offers. You search among the ads yourself, which are usually available for two working days. If several applicants have the same queue time, the one who applied first gets it. It is the property owner who sets the conditions for a home, and Bostadsförmedlingen checks that you meet them. The agency's decision cannot be appealed.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: About us, Bostadsförmedlingen: Quick facts, Bostadsförmedlingen: Summary of 2025, Bostadsförmedlingen: Find housing, Bostadsförmedlingen: Queue and allocation rules.

What does the queue cost and who can join it?

Anyone who has turned 18 and has a Swedish personal identity number or coordination number can register, regardless of where they live. Those under 18 who have children or can prove pregnancy can also register. Bostadsförmedlingen recommends BankID or Freja eID+, and customer service helps those who lack e-identification.

The queue fee is 200 kronor per year and is determined by the municipal council. You pay with Swish or card within 30 days of the notice, then with e-invoice or notice. After the due date, the queue matter becomes pending: your notifications of interest are removed and you cannot make new ones, but the queue time remains if you pay. Five months after the due date, you are deregistered and lose the queue time. Not receiving a notice is not considered a reason to get it back. If you regret a new registration within 14 days, you get the fee back.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: Queue and allocation rules, Bostadsförmedlingen: Register, Bostadsförmedlingen: Fee.

How long is the notice period?

The queue time is counted from the day you registered. Bostadsförmedlingen's annual summaries show how many homes were allocated and what the average queue time was:

In the city centre, the average wait was 21 years in 2025. Most people who get a home have a queue time of around 4 to 13 years. In new production, the queue time is shorter: 5.8 years on average in 2025, compared to 9.6 years for existing apartments. On 9 October 2026, 916,702 registered people had queue time.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: Summary of 2025, Bostadsförmedlingen: Summary of 2024, Bostadsförmedlingen: Summary of 2023, Bostadsförmedlingen: How long does it take?, Bostadsförmedlingen: Active queue times per year.

Queue time per city district and municipality

Average queue time 2025 for existing homes in Stockholm city's city districts, according to Bostadsförmedlingen:

It goes faster in several commuter municipalities. In Södertälje, Sigtuna, Salem, Österåker, Tyresö, Upplands-Bro and Sollentuna, the average waiting time was less than five years in 2025. Senior apartments required about ten years, student apartments about 4.5 years and short-term contracts about 12.5 years.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: Compare waiting times with the help of our map, Bostadsförmedlingen: How long does it take?.

What happens to the waiting time when I get an apartment?

The waiting time is personal and cannot be transferred to anyone else. It is reset when you sign a rental agreement that applies until further notice. You keep it if you get a short-term contract, a student apartment, a senior apartment 65+, an apartment through Bostad snabbt or an apartment through another queue. If you cancel the rental agreement no later than three months before the move-in date, you can get the waiting time back. If you are applying together, it is the main applicant's waiting time that is reset, not the co-applicant's.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: Queue and mediation rules, Bostadsförmedlingen: Register, Bostadsförmedlingen: Short-term contracts.

How many apartments can I apply for?

You can have three expressions of interest and three viewing invitations at the same time. For new-produced apartments and senior apartments 55+ and 65+, there is no limit. If you opt out twice in six months, you will be blocked from expressing interest for three months, and if you provide incorrect information, the block will be 18 months.

Source: Bostadsförmedlingen: Queue and mediation rules, Bostadsförmedlingen: Apply for housing.

What requirements do the landlords have?

Bostadsförmedlingen has no income requirement of its own, but the landlords do. The terms often involve the income being in proportion to the rent, the job being within commuting distance from the Stockholm area, and you not having payment remarks or debts with Kronofogden (the Swedish Enforcement Authority).

The city's companies Stockholmshem, Familjebostäder, Svenska Bostäder, Stadsholmen and Micasa Fastigheter have common rules. After paying the rent, you should have Kronofogden's normal amount left, which from 1 January 2026 is 6,243 kr for a single adult and 10,314 kr for a combined income. If you have your own business, it should have been active for at least one year.

Source: Stockholm Housing Agency: Landlord's terms, Stockholm Housing Agency: Stockholm municipal companies' rules for approving tenants.

Youth housing, student housing and senior housing

Youth housing usually goes to those who are 18 to 25 years old, sometimes up to 27 or 30. The contracts are usually time-limited, and then you keep the queue time. The municipal companies reserve youth housing for a certain age, which is visible in the advertisement. The one who applies for youth housing with them can be approved with a guarantee if at least 2,081 kronor per month remains after the rent.

Student housing is provided by both the Stockholm Housing Agency and the Stockholm Student Housing Foundation, which has its own queue. You usually need to study at least 15 university credits per term, and you keep the queue time while living in student housing. More about student queues can be found in the guide to student housing. Senior housing comes in two types, for those over 55 and for those over 65 years old.

Source: Stockholm Housing Agency: Youth apartments, Stockholm Housing Agency: Stockholm municipal companies' rules for approving tenants, Stockholm Housing Agency: Student housing, Stockholm Housing Agency: Senior housing.

Can you get priority for housing?

Yes, but only in exceptional cases. Priority requires that you have been resident and registered in Stockholm without interruption for the past year, have a Swedish personal identity number and have strong medical or social reasons or a serious threat against you. If you get priority, you will be offered housing.

Source: Stockholm Housing Agency: Priority for housing in Stockholm.

What do I do when I have received the contract?

The Stockholm Housing Agency requires that you cancel, transfer or sell your current housing and register at the new address when you move in. The notice period for a rental apartment is three months to the end of the month, and the template can be found in the guide to cancelling the apartment. Flyttanmälan does this to Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) no later than one week after the move. The rest of the move, from removal company to inspection, is in moving to Stockholm step by step.

The person who takes payment for arranging a first-hand contract commits a crime. If you rent instead in the second hand, read the guide on renting in the second hand.

Source: Stockholm Housing Agency: Queue and brokerage rules, Jordabalken, 12 kap. (riksdagen.se), Skatteverket: Flyttanmälan. 12 kap. 4, 8 and 65 §§ jordabalken (the Swedish Land Code), 25 § folkbokföringslagen (the Swedish Population Registration Act).

The law behind it

The sections summarised, with a link to the legal text on riksdagen.se.