Student Housing
This page offers information about finding accommodation in Gothenburg as a student. If you are an exchange student, you will find specific information for you under the heading “Exchange student housing”. The other information on this page is intended to help all international students, regardless of whether you are coming to Gothenburg as a degree-seeking student or as part of an exchange programme.
Finding housing
Gothenburg is Sweden’s second largest city and is hugely popular not only with students, but also companies. Many people are moving to study and work in Gothenburg, causing a housing shortage. For this reason, we encourage you to begin looking for accommodation as soon as possible.
Although there is student housing in the city, it is near impossible to find accommodation in a student room in time for the start of the semester. In fact, it can take a year or longer before you receive an offer for student housing. Fortunately, there are other alternatives, such as renting a room in an apartment or home. Although many students would prefer private student housing, renting a room from a Swedish family can have advantages in terms of learning Swedish quicker and becoming familiar with Swedish culture and customs.
To maximize your chances of finding accommodation quickly, we recommend that you not limit your search to the city centre where the competition is the stiffest. Widen your search to include areas outside of the city centre as well. Public transportation in the city is effective and offers wide coverage, so staying outside the city centre is not a problem. You could always move closer to where your classes are later. The important thing is that you find somewhere to stay initially.
An alternative to a student room or apartment is to stay in a hostel or hotel. There are many hostels and hotels offering long-stay in Gothenburg. Contact the Gothenburg Visitor Centre for a list of all of them.
Gothenburg Visitor Centre
Accommodation
The University of Gothenburg offers accommodation to incoming students within different exchange agreements (e.g Erasmus) as well as fee-paying students.
Exchange student housing
The University of Gothenburg offers student rooms and apartments to exchange students within the Erasmus and Linnaeus Palme programmes, as well as to exchange students that come as part of a bilateral agreement.
Please note that you have to be nominated by your home university before applying. As an exchange student, you apply for housing as part of your application for exchange studies at the University of Gothenburg. In the application, just state that you would like to apply for student housing, and we will get back to you about the outcome.
If you are assigned a student accommodation, we will provide instructions on how to proceed with the registration process at SGS/UGOT.
It's important to note that you can register with SGS in advance, and this won't impact your chances in the UGOT queue. When the allocation process begins, SGS will simply transfer your profile to the UGOT queue.
Housing information
Housing application results
If you have applied for student housing in Mobility Online we (Welcome Services at the University of Gothenburg) will send you an email to let you know the outcome of your housing application and how to proceed . The housing application deadline is 15 May/15 Nov and the result will be emailed approximately two weeks after the deadline.
Rent and payment
You will get your rent slip (web slip) each month on My Pages/Rent notes/invoices. It has all the information you need for payment.
Moving in dates and key pick-up
The official rental period starts on 15 August/15 January. You pick up your keys at SGS Customer Service. Check My Pages (SGS Ugot) for information about SGS Customer Services office hours and routines for key pickup. NB: On 15 January 2024 you will be able to pick up your keys from 9.00 - 19.00.
If you arrive outside office hours you can contact the Student Buddies to see if they may assist you with the key pick-up. Please not that you will have to fill in SGS's letter of authorization in that case.
Housing for fee-paying students
Through agreements with local housing companies, the University administers a limited number of student flats and rooms. Current legislation allows us to rent this out to fee-paying students and exchange students. In the end of May, we will contact fee-paying students with more information about our University-administered housing and how to apply for it.
Please understand that the the number of flats and rooms is limited.
No Housing Guarantee
Please note that the University does not guarantee housing. There is a shortage of housing in Gothenburg, which affects student accommodations during the autumn.
For information about alternative housing options, please read the section below under the heading “More ways to find housing”.
SGS, for international students (except exchange students)
All international students (including doctoral students) can apply for accommodation through SGS, which is a foundation managing Gothenburg’s largest range of student accommodation. You can register as soon as you are considering applying to the University of Gothenburg to maximize your time in the queue. This will increase your chance of getting an apartment or room.
Even though the waiting time is normally about one and a half years, it is not impossible to be offered an accommodation through SGS faster. Accordingly, it can pay off to keep a close eye on SGS and to check in frequently.
Frequently asked questions
Move to Gothenburg web portal
The Move to Gothenburg web portal provides a lot of helpful information about finding a home in, and around, Gothenburg. Regardless of whether you are coming to the city to study or to work, you will find useful tips about where to look, how to expand your search, and what to keep in mind. You can read about tenancy rights, different aspects of renting first hand and second hand, what to think about if you are contemplating buying a home, and much more.
About the Move to Gothenburg initiative
This is a collaborative initiative aimed at attracting and welcoming skilled internationals. The initiative is run as part of a regional platform comprising stakeholders from the business community, academia, the city, and the region.
Avoid scams
Just like everywhere else, there are fictive landlords trying to trick you. You should be careful about “too good to be true” offers.
Also, make sure that you
-
never transfer a deposit to the landlord until you or a friend has actually seen the lease and place;
- insist on having a written leasing contract when you agree with a landlord to let or sublet a room/flat;
- use an authorized leasing contract.
Adelric Wong's housing story
In my first year in Gothenburg, securing a place was rather difficult, so I signed up with several housing queues in the meantime to secure queue time, but realistically, I knew I had to find a place to stay there and then. So, with minimal availability or alternatives otherwise, I turned to booking places via Airbnb, moved from one place to another every few months. Then, I found a room in a shared apartment through private rentals via Boplats, and stayed there for some months. Following that, I obtained long-term accommodation through SBS and stayed at the Lindholmen container apartments. I stayed there pretty long, before I was eligible in my second year of studies with sufficient student housing queue time with SGS and applied for an apartment near Lindholmen near one of my friends so we could become neighbours. It was definitely a wild journey in my first year, constantly changing neighbourhoods and adjusting to new housing environments.
Any advice to future students regarding this?
My suggestion to new students is that you should be willing to make an initial compromise and stay out of your comfort zone while upgrading your living situation over time whenever opportunity and availability presents itself, but it is best to not be too picky for the first few accommodations you get, especially if you lack any significant queue time as there are more pressing matters to focus on, such as university studies.