Feb 27 (Reuters) – Two of Sweden’s largest property companies on Tuesday announced multibillion-crown writedowns in their 2023 results, as they grappled with a European property rout that both voiced hope could soon be over.
For years, property in Europe and particularly Germany and Sweden boomed as interest rates fell, turbocharging demand. A sharp rise in rates has now pricked this bubble.
SBB, Sweden’s largest commercial landlord, wrote down the value of its property by more than 13 billion Swedish crowns ($1.3 billion), slashing its portfolio – including through sales – to 73 billion crowns from 135 billion.
It posted a 2023 loss of more than 22 billion crowns.
Heimstaden, a property investor with swathes of homes from Stockholm to Berlin, wrote down the value of its investment properties by 31 billion crowns, plunging it to a pre-tax loss of 29 billion crowns.
Heimstaden’s (HEIMpref.ST), opens new tab preferential shares dropped more than 30% after Fitch cut its credit rating deeper into so-called “junk” territory and the company said it would defer hybrid bond interest payments.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
