So does all this breathless excitement about the Swedish market suggest we should follow the Arabs and rush to buy property there? We asked Tony Booth to examine the evidence.

'No', is my answer - and I really can't shout it loud enough!

What much of the press reports fail to explain is that the vast majority of the billions of dollars worth of foreign investment is going into commercial ventures - office complexes and company controlled residential building.

Despite it being a modern and highly respected country with an envious economic and political reputation, Sweden is a country of confusing market indicators and extraordinary incongruities.

At face value, the Swedes should have a profitable, buoyant and confident property investment market.