The average price of a home in Norway was NOK 5,137,253 at the end of May.

So far in 2026, home prices have risen by 5.8 percent.

- Home prices rose by 0.3 percent in May, which resulted in a small increase in seasonally adjusted home prices of 0.1 percent. The growth is driven by a very strong housing market in South-West Norway, West Norway and Troms. In Ålesund and the surrounding area, it is particularly hot with an increase of 2 percent in May and a full 14 percent so far this year, says CEO Henning Lauridsen of Eiendom Norge.

- In Oslo and Eastern Norway, there is a weaker price trend. In the first five months of the year, housing prices in Oslo have only risen by 2.3 percent, which would mean that Oslo, with a normal economic cycle, will have negative price development in 2026. The exception in Eastern Norway in May was Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg, which after a long period of weak price development saw a seasonally adjusted increase of 1.3 percent in May, he says.

- Eiendom Norge's forecast for housing price development in 2026 was an increase of 6 percent as of May. This is a deviation of only 0.2 percent from actual development. As it stands now, we seem to be able to hit our forecast of 6 percent in Norway as a whole in 2026. However, the development in the large cities seems to be a little different than we imagined, says Lauridsen.

Fewer sales and fewer listings

In May, 10,702 homes were sold in Norway, which is 8.5 percent fewer than in May 2025.

So far this year, 45,923 homes have been sold in Norway, which is 4.6 percent fewer than at the same time last year.

In May, 14,438 homes were listed for sale in Norway, which is 9.7 percent fewer than in May 2025.

So far this year, 52,701 homes have been listed in Norway, which is 3.1 percent fewer than at the same time last year.

- There is still a lot of activity in the used housing market in Norway. The change in volume in sales and the number listed compared to last year is probably due to the combination of working day effects and the fact that 2025 stood out with a very large number of sales. There were two more public holidays in May this year compared to 2025, and that Whitsun fell in June last year. This year we had three long weekends in May. This normally affects the timing of the market and the viewings for many, says Lauridsen.

It took an average of 42 days to sell a home in May, down from 49 days in April.

The shortest sales time was in Stavanger and the surrounding area and Bergen, with 13 and 14 days respectively. The longest sales time was in Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg with 83 days.

Ålesund and Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg on top

- Ålesund and the surrounding area had the strongest seasonally adjusted price development in May, with a seasonally adjusted increase of 2 percent, ahead of Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg with 1.3 percent, says Lauridsen.

Tønsberg and Færder had the weakest seasonally adjusted price development in May, with a seasonally adjusted decrease of 1.2 percent.

- The largest growth so far in 2026 has been in Ålesund and the surrounding area and Tromsø with increases of 14 and 10.7 percent.

- The weakest development this year has been in Asker/Bærum with 2.2 percent, says Lauridsen.

Housing costs in the CPI are a political issue

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the measurement of, among other things, housing costs in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

- Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Labour Party) has recently denied in the Storting that Norges Bank's operational target for monetary policy is a political issue. It is worth recalling that the core inflation target (CPI-ATE), which Norges Bank prefers to govern by, was politically mandated in monetary policy regulations in 2001, when Stoltenberg himself was Prime Minister, says CEO Henning Lauridsen.

- Stoltenberg's government mandated that "[t]he direct effects on consumer prices due to changes in interest rates, taxes, levies and special, temporary disturbances shall not be taken into account". This was later withdrawn in 2018, Lauridsen points out.

- An incorrect interest rate level has major consequences for both the Norwegian economy and the individual. If it is true that the exceptionally high interest rate level in Norway is due to measurement techniques for, among other things, rent and people's housing costs, and not actual inflation, this is a policy error that must be addressed. The costs of having an interest rate that is more than twice as high as in Sweden and Europe are significant, concludes Lauridsen.