Sweden braces as property storm clouds darken

By John O’Donnell and Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – For months, Sweden’s government has sought to play down a property crisis that has throttled confidence in the Nordic state, repeating a simple message: While some companies are in trouble, the country is not.

Now Heimstaden Bostad, a $30 billion property investor with swathes of homes from Stockholm to Berlin, is grappling with a multibillion dollar funding crunch, which has rebounded on one of its owners – the country’s biggest pension…