The unbalanced housing stock of rural municipalities : A housing stock investigation of Dorotea, Vilhelmina, Storuman and Sorsele municipalities housing stock.

The rural inland municipalities of northern Sweden have undergone a massive social,economic, and demographic restructuring over the past few decades which has resulted in a diverse settlement pattern. While little attention is paid to those municipalities, it is interesting to find out how these changes affected the housing stock in this rural area.Therefore, the purpose of this study has been to show what the housing stock looks like in Dorotea, Vilhelmina, Storuman and Sorsele municipalities, in the western inland of Västerbotten County and how those municipalities work with this question in their planning strategy. The study was conducted by using both univariate analysis and documentary content analysis in a mixed methods research. The housing stock in these municipalities of northern inland Sweden has a similar structure, characterised by a high degree of single-detached houses and a very low degree of tenancy and small dwellings. Nonetheless there are a few attributes which differ between the housing stock of the four municipalities. The municipalities show awareness about the problems in theirs housing stock, but the resources for dealing with those problems are limited