Bidding on a Swedish Home 2026: How It Works, Underpricing and Hidden Bids

Bidding often feels like a game where you are holding the worst cards. That is not true. The first thing to know is reassuring: a bid is never binding, not even in writing. The purchase only becomes binding once both you and the seller have signed the purchase contract (köpekontrakt). Until then, either side can change their mind, with no claim from the other. That means you have time to think, and nobody can lock you into a bid you regret.

Bidding has no fixed rules, the seller decides

There is no law that governs how the bidding (budgivning) should be run. The seller, together with the estate agent (mäklare), decides how it is carried out and how long it runs. It is also the seller who decides who gets to buy, at what price and at what point in time. So the seller does not have to sell to whoever has placed the highest bid.

This can sound unsettling, but the point for you is simple: the bidding is the seller’s process, not an auction with set rules. Your job is not to win every round, but to avoid paying more than the home is worth to you.

Underpricing (lockpris): when the asking price is set too low

An asking price (utgångspris) may not be misleading. A lockpris is when the price is deliberately set low to attract more prospective buyers. For something to count as a lockpris, the asking price must sit well below the assessed market value. Case law has established that an asking price just over 10 percent below the assessed market value is not in itself enough to be called a lockpris. So the fact that the final price ends up higher than the asking price is not in itself a sign of a lockpris, because the bidding is what sets the price.

The most important thing for you: the seller is never bound to sell at the advertised price. The asking price is a starting point for the marketing, not a promise. So never rely on the asking price when planning your finances. Start instead from the final prices (slutpris) of similar sold homes in the area.

Hidden bids (dolt bud): how they work

A hidden bid (dolt bud) is a bid submitted on the condition that it may only be passed on to the seller, not to the other prospective buyers. The agent is obliged to report all bids received to the seller, including hidden ones. Since it is the seller who decides who gets to buy, a hidden bid can in practice bypass the open bidding.

So you cannot count on seeing everything that happens. That is one more reason to set your own ceiling based on what the home is worth to you, not on what others appear to be bidding.

Do not assume the bidding always runs away

It varies a lot and depends heavily on where you are buying. Historically, bidding has risen on average around 10 percent. But that picture no longer holds everywhere. During 2025 the bid premiums (budpremie) have been much lower: more than 4 in 10 sold homes had a final price below the asking price, and only a handful of municipalities had a positive average bid premium.

Situation	Approximate bid premium
Historical average (2022)	around 10 percent (apartments 10.3 %, houses 10.7 %)
2025, many municipalities	below the asking price (more than 4 in 10 homes)
2025, strong municipalities	positive bid premium (e.g. Kiruna, Stockholm, Solna, Sundbyberg)
2025, weak municipalities	more than 10 percent below asking price (e.g. Kalix, Sävsjö, Fagersta)

These figures come from property-site statistics, not from any public authority, so use them for direction and not as the final word. The practical takeaway: do not automatically assume you have to bid 10 percent above the asking price. Check the actual bid premium in your own municipality.

Set your ceiling before you start

The one thing that genuinely protects you in a bidding is a limit you decide in advance. Work out what you can afford, and do not let the pace of the bidding drag you past that limit.

Worked example: deposit in 2026

From 1 April 2026 the mortgage cap (bolånetak) rises from 85 to 90 percent of the home market value. That means the deposit needs to be at least 10 percent of the price. At the same time the stricter amortisation requirement is removed (the requirement for an extra 1 percent amortisation on loans above 4.5 times gross annual income). The basic amortisation requirement based on the loan-to-value ratio remains, and top-up loans are limited to 80 percent of market value.

Say you are looking at a home with an asking price of 4 000 000 kr and the bidding lands at 4 400 000 kr.

Item	Amount
Final price	4 400 000 kr
Deposit (at least 10 %)	440 000 kr
Maximum mortgage (90 %)	3 960 000 kr

The point is that every hundred thousand the bidding climbs also raises your deposit. At 4 400 000 kr you need 40 000 kr more in deposit than at the asking price of 4 000 000 kr. That is why your ceiling should be built on what you have saved and what you can bear to pay each month, not on whatever the asking price happens to be.

The purchase is only settled on paper

Until the purchase contract (köpekontrakt) is signed by both you and the seller, nothing is settled. Buying real property requires a written purchase document that both parties sign, with the purchase price stated and a transfer declaration. A purchase that does not meet these formal requirements is void. A spoken yes in the bidding therefore binds no one, neither you nor the seller. That gives you breathing room: you do not need to panic in the middle of a bidding, because the decisive moment is when pen meets contract.