Älvsbyhus best of all small house manufacturers

Small house manufacturers in Sweden are under pressure from cost increases and reduced demand. In Småland i southern Sweden, employees are being laid off after an autumn in which only one house was sold. But Älvsbyhus has 1,000 orders in its order book and will produce at least 800 houses this year.

So far, there has been no question of production cuts in Älvsbyhus' factories.

"We have had a better autumn than the others and sold well in November. At the moment, orders are modest. In 2023, we are living on the order book from 2021 and 2022," says Kent Johansson, owner and CEO of Älvsbyhus.

This means that Älvsbyhus plans to produce 800 houses this year. It may even be more.

"It could be 900 houses this year. All assuming that orders come in before the summer. We can't produce 20 houses a week if the order intake doesn't fill up," says Kent Johansson.

Spring sales will be crucial for how Älvsbyhus will cope with the recession. According to Kent Johansson, the company's salespeople are noticing that there is interest in the market.

- I'm cautiously, no really optimistic. We are in a good position when interest rates rise, says Kent Johansson.

In previous recessions, Älvsbyhus has gained market share because of the low price it can maintain thanks to rational house production. The advantage that has made Älvsbyhus the biggest brand for small houses in Sweden, will be an even bigger relative advantage in bad times.

For Älvsbyhus, the large industrial investments in northern Sweden are also an opportunity. The company has recently bought a site in Skellefteå where it will build a show house. It will also build a show house in Umeå and there are plans for a new show house in Luleå.

Things are not going so well for small house builders in southern Sweden.
Small house producers there are having to lay off employees when virtually no houses are sold any more.

According to the trade association Trä- och möbelföretagen, TMF, the small house sector is under severe pressure, with orders down by 50% in 2022, due to increased material costs, supplier disruptions, inflation and higher interest rates, a war-induced recession that is particularly difficult to assess, and buyers whose savings and assets have fallen due to the stock market downturn.

Lennart Håkansson

editor"northswedenbusiness.com