Paper short abstract:

For young middle class families, living in the cities of Sweden today, being able to afford a house is becoming harder considering the current market. As an alternative strategy, many consider staying in their rental flats while purchasing a cheap summer cottage sometimes hours away.

Paper long abstract:

For young middle class families, living in the cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg today, being able to afford a house of their own is becoming harder considering the current market. As an alternative strategy, many now consider staying put in their rental flats while purchasing a cheap summer cottage sometimes hours away from the permanent home. Despite the ever rising house prices in and near the city, they are not prepared to give up on the dream of achieving "the good life" for their children. Sometimes this stems from their own childhood in the suburbs and other times from a normative idea of what constitutes the good middleclass life. In my research on "a new generation of holiday home-makers in Sweden", this generations struggle with how to afford staying in the city, where they work, while providing the life they want for their children becomes apparent.