Sweden39;s property prices slide
Top residential landlord reveals search for cash
Government ready to help sector but hopes to avoid

STOCKHOLM, Sept 15 Reuters For months, Sweden39;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 country39;s biggest pension fund.

That undoubtedly raises the stakes for Sweden, the European nation hardest hit by a global property rout triggered by the steep rise in interest rates last year that abruptly ended a decade of virtually free money.

Sweden is one of Europe39;s wealthiest states and the biggest Nordic economy, but it has an Achilles Heel a property market where banks have lent more than 4 trillion Swedish crowns 360 billion to homeowners. Weighed down by these home loans, Swedes are twice as heavily indebted as Germans or Italians.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund flagged Sweden39;s historically high household borrowing coupled with debtdriven commercial property firms and their dependence on local banks as a financial stability risk.

The property crisis accelerated this month when pension fund Alecta, which owns a 38 stake in Heimstaden Bostad, said Sweden39;s…