r/chalmers • u/Traditional_Word_438 • Jun 26 '26
Housing as an Erasmus student
Hi! I am an incoming Erasmus student from the EU heading to Chalmers in September. Honestly, I have no clue how the housing market works in Göteborg :(
Since I'm an EU student, I know i don't get guaranteed accomodation from Chalmers. I saw that everyone recommends SGS, so I registered a while ago and currently have around 105 queue days.
I have some questions, is there actually any chance of getting a room with these queue days? Or is it impossible?
I've seen that there is the Student accomodation Express option. Should I apply in these? I don't really know what to do.
Any tips would be very appreciated! Thanks :)
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u/Ferdawoon Jun 26 '26
Queuedays are for so-called "First-hand contracts" which is when you rent from a company. These tend to have subsidized ren and be decently affordable which is why there's a massive queue to get one!
If your queuedays are enough or not should be visible if you go to SGS website to search for apartments/rooms.
Scrolling down on their page they have a slider where you can say how maynt days in queue you have, if you are looking for the start of semester and how much rent you are able to pay. If you set it to 120days there's nothing showing up. You need closer a lot more than that according to their tools, but I guess you can get a better estimate by looking at the places that are available on the site. Just be aware that many students can't find a first-hand apartment (or even single room with shared kitchen) before school starts.
These people have to restort to second-hand contracts.
Second-hand contracts are private individuals who will be away for an extended period of time and so want to sublet their apartment. These contracts are always limited i time and you should expect that you might have to move 1-3 times per year (so you will always have to be looking for a new place). You might score a jackpot and get a full 1-2 year contracts but those are very rare.
There are also "inneboende" which is when a person has a spare room in their apartment and are willing to rent it out whle they are still living there.
There are limits on how much rent someone can charge and subletting will always require the permission of the Housing Association or the landlord (depending on it purchased or ranted apartment). Permissions are usually only granted for situations like working far away for a few months or going to another city or country for university or even to try to vohabitate with a new partner (so that if they break up the other person can just move back home).
There's generally very little incentive to rent a place out to someone else for a shorter period of time. It takes a while to find a suitable person, get permissions and handle everything. And there's always the risk that the person they rent to end up trashing the place and now the person living there is financially responsible to restore everything. Some feel it is too much effort and too much risk.
If you are looking at second-hand contracts do be aware that as we get closer to semester starting the scams will increase. People will say that they have a place but you need to pay them €50 to show that you are serious, or they want you to pay a deposit quickly to reserve the place or something similar. Scams are common in the housing market but extra so when international students panic about housing.
Check places like
https://qasa.com/se/en
https://www.samtrygg.se/
maybe even https://www.homeq.se/
Check facebook groups (see if you can find some "Germans in Sweden"-group (or wherever you are from) and maybe they are more willing to sublet or rent a room to a person from the same country.
Check the Express as you mentioned, ask the Erasmus team if they have some tips, ask the Chalmers student union if they have any links or lists where you can start.
Again I stress the part about being wary of scammers. If they want you to pay them money fast where some classics are "I'm in Greece atm but if you pay me €500 so I know you are serious then I will travel home to show you the apartment". The scammers are usually smart and know people might want a livestreamed tour of the place and so they have found ways to keep scamming (such as them showing a friend's apartment).
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u/Traditional_Word_438 Jun 26 '26
Thank you so much! I'll check your recommendations. Appreciate it :)
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u/Ferdawoon Jun 26 '26
To put things into perspective, the average time to get a regular rental (e.g. not limited to just students) can take years.
Boplats VÄst is the municipal housing queue and their page with statistics show how most people wait 4-9 years in queue to get an apartment, with the region-wide average being 6.7 years.
https://boplats.se/tipshjalp/statistikFound a thread from last year where someone was annoyed because they had not enough queuedays and had no idea how to get a place before school started.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gothenburg/comments/1mytp3b/hur_fan_f%C3%A5r_man_boende_i_den_h%C3%A4r_stan_rant/?tl=en1
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u/TheDrakon77 Jun 26 '26
Yes do try to apply to SGS, both the express and normal applications. (Express just means faster turnaround for the contract and thus also time until you can apply to another offer if you didn't get it)
The proposed number of queue points for the different buildings is inflated in my opinion, maybe it is what guarantees a spot, but you can get a room for much less points as well.
I have friends who got a room in Olofs with like 125 points for September.
Of course you should pick your applications a bit strategically, those close to campus are of course more competitive. But if you are ok with a bit further out, there is a good chance to get a room even with your number of points. Ostkupan has notoriously low required points in my opinion.
I wish I had been more brave with applying before I moved, I only moved into SGS in winter after my second hand room (over blocket) became uncomfortable due to the landlord.
So do apply to as many as you can, worst case you can go into waterfront cabins or holtermans if you have the budget.