House prices fell by 1.6 per cent in July 2022. Adjusted for seasonal variations, prices fell by 0.2 per cent.

House prices in Norway have so far in 2022 risen by 7.1 per cent.

The average price for a home in Norway was NOK 3,749,690 at the end of July.

- The housing market in Norway took a summer break in July. While the housing market in July during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 was characterized by great activity, few homes have been sold this year. We have to go back to 2017 to find a July with fewer sales than this year's July, says CEO of Eiendom Norge, Henning Lauridsen.

- House prices fell in July by 1.6 per cent and also corrected for seasonal variations, the price development was weak with a negative growth of 0.2 per cent. Although the underlying price development was negative and there were large variations in price development in the country, we would characterize the development as normal for July, says Lauridsen.

- The number of sold and new homes on the market is markedly lower than in previous years, and activity was particularly low in the second half of July. This is how it should be in the housing market in July, he says.

Little activity

In July, 4,069 homes were sold in Norway, which is 19.3 percent fewer than the corresponding month in 2021.

So far this year, 53,771 homes have been sold in Norway. That is 11.6 percent fewer than in the same period last year.

In July, 3,221 homes were put up for sale in Norway, which is 14.4 percent fewer than in the same month in 2021.

So far this year, 57,188 homes have been put up for sale. That is 8.4 percent fewer than in the same period last year.

- The supply side in the second-hand housing market remains at almost the same low level as in June. We expect that the offer side will smooth out through August, says Lauridsen.

It took an average of 41 days to sell a home in July, up from 25 days in June. Drammen and its surroundings have the fastest sales time with 21 days. Asker and Bærum had the longest selling time with 50 days.

- The sales period goes up as normal in July. This is because many homes that have been on the market for a long time were sold in July, he says.

Strong development in Oslo in July

Oslo had the strongest seasonally adjusted price development in July, with an increase of 0.4 per cent.

Stavanger and its surroundings had the weakest seasonally adjusted price development, with a seasonally adjusted decrease of 2.7 per cent.

The strongest development so far this year has Tønsberg m/Færder with an increase of 9.6 per cent followed by Porsgrunn/Skien and Drammen m/surroundings with 9.0 per cent.

Asker and Bærum and Romerike have the weakest development so far in 2022 with an increase of 4.7 per cent.

- Oslo stands out in July as the area with the strongest seasonally adjusted development throughout the summer. This illustrates our continuing concern about housing price developments and the price level in the capital. We also do not see that the interest rate will bite here at first. The capital region now has strong population growth and continued low housing construction. This puts further price pressure in Oslo, says Lauridsen.

- Oslo municipality must take the challenge related to the regulation of new housing seriously. The high house prices in the capital due to too few homes will not be solved by higher property taxes or stricter lending regulations. Only adequate housing construction and enough regulation of ready-to-build plots will bring house prices in Oslo under control.

- Now the Planning and Building Agency, the city council and the city council in Oslo must take responsibility for housing price developments in the city, concludes Lauridsen.