Housing prices are now 1.5 per cent higher than a year ago.

- The outbreak of the corona has affected house prices and the transaction volume in the housing market in March, but the fall in prices and volume is less than one would expect given the drastic measures to limit the infection, says Henning Lauridsen, CEO of Real Estate Norway.

- We expect the transaction volume to stabilize in the future. Normally, the housing market would go into a hibernation now until Easter, but many views have been put into Easter, which means that we expect more activity during Easter week than normal.

- What is important now is that banks continue to provide intermediate financing. Experience from the financial crisis shows that a change in the dynamics of buying first and selling afterwards is counterproductive and destructive to the housing market. Although a more restrictive credit policy may seem rational to the individual bank, this collective is irrational, says Lauridsen.

High activity so far this year

In March, 6,679 homes were sold in Norway, which is 14.6 per cent less than in the corresponding month in 2019. So far this year, 21,239 homes have been sold in Norway, which is 2.3 per cent less than in the record year 2019.

In March, 8,659 homes were put up for sale in Norway, which is 14.4 percent less than in the same month in 2019. So far this year, 23,520 homes have been put up for sale, which is 2.5 percent less than at the same time last year.

- Far fewer homes were sold and put out in March this year than last year. But overall for the first three months of the year, the transaction volume is high compared to previous years, says Lauridsen.

It took an average of 51 days to sell a home in March 2020. That is down from 65 days in February. Oslo had the fastest sales time with 20 days and the slowest sales time had Ålesund w / surrounding area with 96 days.

Important with well-functioning housing market

Fredrikstad / Sarpsborg had the strongest seasonally adjusted price trend in March, with a decrease of 0.3 per cent. Romerike had the weakest seasonally adjusted price trend with a decline of 1.9 per cent.

The strongest 12-month growth was Fredrikstad / Sarpsborg with 4.3 per cent, while Stavanger w / surrounding areas had the weakest development in the last 12 months with a decline of 2.8 per cent.

- There has been a fall in house prices in all areas in Norway in March. Due to the corona eruption, there is uncertainty about the development of the Norwegian and global economy. In the wake of the measures against the infection on March 12, we have seen a historic increase in unemployment and layoffs. The Norwegian economy is also affected by the fall in oil prices, which will have a further impact on the labor market. How strongly this will affect the housing market remains uncertain, says Lauridsen.

- It is now important that the authorities use the tools at their disposal, and we support many of the economic measures that the government has implemented and will implement. There is still room for several measures for the housing market, in particular a government guarantee for intermediate financing. In addition, there is now room to put further efforts into a fully digital housing business, especially digitalisation of municipal information, says Henning Lauridsen, CEO of Real Estate Norway.