Save millions by living in Sweden and keeping your job in Denmark

Save millions by living in Sweden and keeping your job in Denmark

More and more Danes who work in Denmark are choosing to settle in nearby Swedish towns and keep their jobs, which is possible thanks to the Øresund train, making it easy to travel between the cities. This mainly concerns three Swedish cities: Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg.

To give an overview of the price difference, we have carried out a study comparing house prices in the Swedish cities above with three areas on the Danish side of the Øresund: Copenhagen S, Copenhagen N and Helsingør.

According to data from Øresundsinstituttet (the Øresund Institute) and Finans Danmark, prices vary considerably depending on which side of the Øresund Bridge you live on. Where the difference is greatest, it is as much as 5,8 million kr., so it can pay to settle in Sweden and still keep your job in Denmark.

Brikk’s director, Sebastian Beres, explains:

“We are seeing a growing trend of Danes settling on the Swedish side of the Øresund and working in Copenhagen. Travelling across the Øresund, this can be done in under an hour. In the end, it pays off if you are willing to trade a little travel time for a large sum of money.”

Østerbro ranks highest on the Danish side of the bridge 

Do you work in central Copenhagen and live in Østerbro? Østerbro (Copenhagen Ø) is the most expensive of the six areas to live in. In Østerbro, the average price of detached and terraced houses is 8.453.159 kr. Located in the centre of Copenhagen, Østerbro offers plenty of transport options to most places in the city centre.

Compare Østerbro with Malmö, and house prices in Malmö are on average more than five million kr. lower. In Malmö, a house costs an average of 3.083.860 kr., and on the Øresund train you can reach central Copenhagen, Nørreport station, in 40 minutes. 

So from Malmö C you can get into central Copenhagen on a single train: the Øresund train stops at Københavns Hovedbanegård (Copenhagen Central Station), Nørreport station and Østerport station – and for around 25 minutes’ extra travel time into the city, you can save more than 5 million kr. by settling in central Malmö rather than Østerport.

Helsingborg ranks lowest on the Swedish side of the Øresund

On the Swedish side of the Øresund, Malmö and Lund are the most expensive places to settle. Even so, they are cheaper to live in than the three Danish areas mentioned above.

If you work in Copenhagen S, Kastrup Airport is just a 20-minute train ride from Malmö and a 45-minute train ride from Lund, where the average house price is 3.066.700 kr. In other words, you can save almost 3 million kr. by settling in Malmö or Lund, with a train journey to work of under 45 minutes.  

If you work in Helsingør, you can save half a million kr. on the price of a home by settling in Helsingborg, if you are willing to travel 20 minutes by train from Helsingborg C to Helsingør station.

See the overview below of house prices in three Danish areas compared with three Swedish areas.