So far this year, housing prices in Norway have risen by 7.4 percent.

The average price for a home in Norway was NOK 4,954,306 at the end of August.

“Housing prices rose by 1.7 percent in August, which also gave a strong increase in the seasonally adjusted prices of 0.6 percent. After a moderate development in the Oslo housing market since spring, price growth is now returning there. In addition, prices strengthened significantly in Trondheim and Tromsø in August,” says Henning Lauridsen, CEO of Eiendom Norge.

“However, there are still large differences in price developments so far this year. Price growth in Stavanger continues and has so far risen by 14.8 percent, reminiscent of the development in Oslo in 2016. Growth in Tromsø has also picked up, with prices rising by as much as 12.2 percent since the turn of the year,” he says.

Declining Volumes

In August, 10,102 homes were sold in Norway, which is one less than in August 2024.

So far this year, 75,891 homes have been sold in Norway, which is 11.3 percent more than in the same period last year.

In August, 13,827 homes were listed for sale in Norway, which is 2.9 percent fewer than in the same month in 2024.

So far this year, 83,351 homes have been listed for sale, which is 9.2 percent more than in the same period last year.

“The growth in the number of second-hand homes for sale continues to decline, while sales remain stable. This reinforces the trend we have seen in the second-hand housing market in recent months, where the number of unsold homes is decreasing,” Lauridsen says.

On average, it took 49 days to sell a home in August, down from 63 days in July.

Bergen had the shortest sales time with 18 days. Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg had the longest with 87 days.

Strongest Growth in Tromsø in August

The strongest seasonally adjusted price development in August was in Tromsø, with an increase of 2.7 percent.

The weakest seasonally adjusted price development in August was in Tønsberg with Færder, with a decline of 1.6 percent.

The highest growth so far in 2025 has been in Stavanger and surrounding areas with 14.8 percent, followed by Tromsø with 12.2 percent and Kristiansand and Hamar with Stange with 9.6 percent.

The weakest development this year has been in Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg with 4.5 percent, followed by Drammen and surrounding areas and Oslo, both at 4.8 percent.

Praise and Criticism for Housing Minister Kjersti Stenseng (Labour Party)

On Friday, the government, represented by Housing Minister Kjersti Stenseng (Labour Party), presented two press releases on housing policy.

Stenseng on Friday submitted a bill to Parliament to give municipalities the opportunity to require that a share of homes in new development areas be organized as housing cooperatives.

“Form of ownership is something the market, not municipalities, is best suited to assess. We fear this could further weaken housing construction. Moreover, it will not remedy the challenges in disadvantaged areas, as these are already dominated by housing cooperatives,” Lauridsen says.

Stenseng also announced on Friday that she will initiate a review of technical requirements for housing construction, as well as launch a project to increase productivity in the construction industry.

“This is exactly on target for solving the housing crisis. Since the pandemic, construction costs have risen by around 30 percent, and over the past decades, productivity growth in the construction industry has been weak, partly due to more extensive technical requirements.

Reducing the technical requirements for new housing is absolutely crucial to achieving the goal of 130,000 new homes by 2030 and increasing productivity in the Norwegian economy,” Lauridsen concludes.