Significant regional differences

Developed land in Sweden is unevenly distributed, both with regards to building stock as a whole and when it comes to the distribution of buildings within and outside of localities. Stockholm County has the largest share of developed land in localities at 68 percent, while Jämtland County is lowest at 22 percent.

Of the country's total developed land in localities, the largest shares were in Västra Götaland County and Skåne County at 15 percent. The three metropolitan counties together account for nearly 45 percent of all developed land in localities. This also applies to the total land area of the buildings. The municipality with the most buildings in localities in the country is Gothenburg with about 145 000 buildings, or 2 percent of the country's urban land development.

Dwellings account for roughly half the land development in localities

Of the country's urban land development, 47 percent consisted of dwellings and 48 percent consisted of agricultural and supplementary buildings. Stockholm County had the largest share of dwellings in localities at the county level at 54 percent, while Dalarna County had the lowest at 40 percent. Concerning industrial land development in localities, Jönköping takes the lead with close to 3 percent.

Variations among municipalities are considerable. In Storfors municipality, 3 out of 4 buildings in localities were dwellings, while dwellings in Fagersta municipality's localities only accounted for 31 percent of developed land.

Stockholm - the leading county for terraced houses

Detached one- or two-dwelling houses comprise by far the largest share of land development in localities. In 2010 nearly 70 percent of dwellings in localities on the national level comprised detached one- or two-dwelling houses. Stockholm County leads in the share of terraced houses. In 2010, 17 percent of dwellings in localities were of this type. Seen from the level of municipalities, 8 out of 10 municipalities with the largest share of terraced houses are situated in Stockholm County.

Older buildings outside of localities

The differences between dwellings in and outside of localities are considerable. The housing stock in areas outside of localities is generally older. The share of dwellings outside of localities that were built before 1921 was 19 percent, while the corresponding figure in localities was barely 7 percent. More than one-third of the dwellings in localities were built during the period 1961–1980. The share of dwellings built in 2001 or later was 3 percent outside of localities, while within them the figure was 5 percent.

Roughly half live in multi-dwelling buildings

Slightly more than half of all persons in localities lived in multi-dwelling buildings in 2010, 1 percent more than in 2005. Regional differences are also considerable here. Stockholm County has the largest share of persons living in multi-dwelling buildings, 64 percent, while only one third in Halland County localities lived in multi-dwelling buildings. Differences are significant when looking at the size of the locality. In localities with more than 100 000 inhabitants, 73 percent lived in multi-dwelling buildings, while the corresponding share in the smallest localities was 8 percent.

A more detailed report of this survey is published in a Statistical Report.