Christian Democrats abruptly revise stance on market rents in SVT election compass

The Christian Democrats have suddenly changed their answer on market-based rents in SVT’s election compass, admitting to the broadcaster that both their response and its justification were incorrect.

Free pricing for new builds—often called “market rents”—has been a contentious issue in Swedish politics, notably contributing to the downfall of Stefan Löfven’s government in 2021 after the Left Party opposed it. The Centre Party, which had pushed the issue most aggressively, later softened its position to “lower the tone” in the debate, as Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist (C) told Ekot.

Over the weekend, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson declared his party’s opposition: “We say no to market rents—it’s as simple as that.”

Shortly after, the Christian Democrats altered their entry in SVT’s election compass, shifting from calling the proposal “a very good idea” to “a good idea” and changing “free” to “freer” in their reasoning. Press secretary Saga Rypdal Josefsson told SVT the party had not changed its policy but merely clarified its wording.

“The Christian Democrats have long advocated for freer rent-setting in new construction to boost housing supply, provided that tenant protections remain strong and rent indexing is predictable over time,” she wrote in an email.

In the compass, parties’ responses to “market rents should be introduced for new rental apartments” were, before the change: Very bad idea: V, MP, S, SD; Fairly bad idea: C, M; Fairly good idea: –; Very good idea: KD, L.