House prices are now 7 percent higher than a year ago.

The average price for a home in Norway was NOK 4,247,937 in October 2021.

- House prices in Norway developed stronger in October than normal for the month, and most areas in the country had a strong development. The exceptions were Stavanger and Kristiansand where development was weaker than normal, says CEO, Henning Lauridsen of Eiendom Norge.

- In 2020, Oslo had the strongest house price growth in Norway. In 2021, the capital is set to have the weakest price growth of the major cities in Norway.

- The more moderate development in Oslo must be seen in connection with the fact that housing prices here are very high. The average price for a home in Oslo in October is about 2 million higher than in Trondheim, Bergen and Stavanger. The price level means that both the lending regulations and the interest rate increases that come will have a greater effect in Oslo than in areas where prices and the debt ratio are lower, says Lauridsen.

Still great activity

In October, 8,682 homes were sold in Norway, which is 13.6 per cent less than in the corresponding month in 2020.

So far this year, 89,823 homes have been sold in Norway, which is 2.7 per cent more than in the same period in 2020.

In October, 9,700 homes were put up for sale in Norway, which is 3.2 per cent less than in the same month in 2020.

So far this year, 94,427 homes have been put up for sale in Norway, which is 3.1 per cent more than in the same period in 2020.

- As in recent months, slightly fewer homes were sold in October compared with last year. This must be seen in connection with the autumn of last year being marked by the recovery in the housing market after the sharp fall in house prices and turnover in connection with the outbreak of the corona pandemic. So far this year, so many second-hand homes have never been put out or sold in Norway, says Lauridsen.

It took an average of 33 days to sell a home in October 2021, which is two days faster than in September. Bodø w / Fauske had the shortest sales time with 17 days and Kristiansand w / surroundings had the longest sales time with 41 days.

- On average, so far in 2021 it has been faster to sell a home in Norway than in recent years. This indicates that the housing market is efficient and well-functioning, says Lauridsen.

Bodø strongest last year

Bodø w / Fauske and Trondheim had the strongest seasonally adjusted price development in October, with an increase of 1.1 per cent. Stavanger and the surrounding area had the weakest seasonally adjusted price development with a seasonally adjusted decrease of 1.1 per cent.

Bodø / m Fauske had the strongest development in the last 12 months with an increase of 14.9 per cent, followed by Trondheim and Tønsberg m / Færder with 10.3 and 10.2 per cent.

Ålesund and the surrounding area had the weakest development in the last 12 months with an increase of 4.8 per cent, followed by Oslo with a 12-month growth of 5.5 per cent.

- As the market stands now, the housing market in Bodø w / Fauske differs markedly from all other areas in the country, says Lauridsen.

Need for a new tax value system for housing

A new government in Norway led by the Labor Party and the Center Party was formed in mid-October.

- Eiendom Norge is satisfied that the government has paid a lot of attention to housing policy in the Hurdal platform and that the government writes that they will follow up the Labor Party's election promise of a review of the housing policy instruments in a report to the Storting, says Lauridsen.

- We are also very positive that the government writes they want to improve the tax value system for housing. It is a great paradox that today very strict requirements are set for the real estate industry and the financial industry when valuing housing, while the Tax Administration and Statistics Norway have requirements for valuation that have expired, he says.

- We expect that Minister of Finance Trygve Magnus Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) already in the supplementary bill to the state budget next week will start work on a new and prepared tax value system for housing, Lauridsen concludes.