Why most Norwegians own their own home

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Almost 80% of people in Norway own their own home.

Self-owning has been official policy in Norway since the 1950’ies. During the next decades there was a big development of what we call social housing construction in the whole country.  Organizations like OBOS – the biggest housing cooperative organisation in Europe, and other local organisations were established in most cities.  They cooperated with the municipalities who made plots and areas available.

The State Housing bank gave mortgages to both builders and private people to finance the home building.

The taxation of property has always been very low in Norway, and you also get tax-deduction when you are paying interest on mortgage. (Today 22% tax deduction)

And there are no taxation on the gain when selling your home.

Until 1983 sales prices were regulated.  When the regulations were repealed, there were no way back. From that time, it was all about the market!

The market regulations have functioned quite well for most people.  The prices have been rising and people have been able to use their property values to ” climb up the housing ladder”.

Lately we have seen that some people have not been able to buy their own home, because of the requirements for equity and lack of ability to pay the cost of a mortgage.  Almost 50% of first-time buyers gets help from their parents to buy their own home.  The percentage of self-owners have decreased a little bit lately. And many experts doubt whether we will be able to keep up the big share of self-ownership, what we call the Norwegian Housing model,  in the future. Even if it is a goal for all political parties.

Because of the self-own policy, the rental market is not as safe for tenants as we could wish for.  As a tenant you are depending on renting from private self-owners on a 3-year contract.  And you will not get any of the tax advantages that self-owners have.  Therefore it is not regarded very attractive to rent your home in Norway.

Read about the rental system in Norway here

As a home buying consultant I strongly recommend all people who ca to afford it, to buy their own home.  It is both safe and profitable. It is my impression that people from other countries that settle in Norway, also after some time, are eager to buy their own home. They experience the economic benefits that comes with self owning, and what most of their their Norwegian friends and colleagues do.

Can you trust the bidding and home sale system in Norway.  Find the answer here. 

It is of course not completely without risk buying a home in Norway. The market goes up and down and it is important to buy a property without errors and omissions.  You should have a 3 -5 years perspective on the purchase, and get help to secure that you are paying the correct market price.
And be aware of the buyers duty of inspection.  It is essential that you can read and understand all the sales information.  Therefore, if you are an English speaker, I strongly recommend that you get help from a home buying consultant (like me:)

Want to know more? 

Download my booklet about home buying in Norway. 

 

 

 

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The difference of purchasing projected (not yet build) homes and second-hand homes in Norway

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In Norway, as I guess in many other countries we have to different markets for home buying. The second hand housing market and project or new housing market.

In the second-hand market people’s houses and apartments are sold with the help of real estate agents.  It is also allowed to sell one’s property without a realtor, but 99% is using one.

When it comes to the projected, not yet build homes, they are sold by the builders.  They are using real estate agents too, mostly. They are often specialised in sale of projected homes. Sometimes the builders also use their own employees.

Two different laws are regulating the sale and delivery of the homes:

The Home Building Act (Bustadoppføringslova) for projected homes and the Alienation Law (Avhendingsloven) for the second hand homes.

In addition, we have the Real Estate Law that clarifies the responsibility of the real estate agent.

This means that the sale of properties is quite regulated.  The different laws places responsibility on the seller, either a private person or the builder, the buyer and the realtor.

The laws are so called  consumer laws which are intended to protect the consumer

The projected homes are more expensive (20 to 25%) than the second hand homes, because they are modern and built according to the latest building regulations and does not require maintenance for many years.

When you buy a home that is not yet build you have to rely on the information and illustrations from the builders or their real estate agent.  They often have models and visiting centre where they are showing the standard of the interior, the sun conditions and the view from the apartment.  Or maybe they have a prototype of a house to show you.

If you want to look for a projected property in Norway, you can use this website:

https://www.finn.no/realestate/newbuildings/search.html?sort=PUBLISHED_DESC

The second hand homes are listed on this website:

https://www.finn.no/realestate/homes/search.html?sort=PUBLISHED_DESC

Be aware of the buyers duty of inspection

Either you want to buy a brand new home or a second hand home in Norway, you have to be aware that the bid is binding and the buyers duty of inspection.

The home buying in Norway is quite complicated for the buyer and as a buyer you have a big responsibility to check the sales material and the property itself before bidding.  The bid is binding and there are no regrets. This is called the buyers duty of inspection and are regulated by law.  It is valid for purchase of second hand homes as well as for projected homes.

Luckily, I have been working with both  selling and buying of both second hand and projected homes in my 40 year career in the housing industry.  Therefore, I am qualified to help with the purchase of all kinds of homes.  This is a good thing since the approach and legislation is quite different.

The housing market right now (February 2023)

The housing market right now (February 2023) is quite slow compared to the crazy years of the Pandemic.  But second-hand homes are sold quite easily, with slighter lower prices.

When it comes to projected homes there have been an abrupt stop and a number of planned projects have been postponed.

The projected homes are mostly sold to fixed prices, they are no bidding rounds.  But it is not easy to negotiate a lower price.  The builders prefer to sit on the properties when they are finished, and wait for better times.

If the projects are stopping for a long time, it will probably have a bad influence on the second hand market, especially in big cities like Oslo.  Then there is a change that the prices for on the second hand market will rice fast again.

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Market update on the housing market in Norway Q1-2022

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The housing prices have been rising every month in 2022.  At the end of the quarter the prices are 7,2% higher than the beginning of the year.  In Oslo the increase is a little bit lower with 6,9% increase in the same period.

There have been far too few houses on the market compared with the number of potential buyers.

The realtors are now telling that they have received many sales assignments lately and it is expected that there will be more homes for sale after the Easter holiday.  That is good news for the buyers.

The big increase in already high house prices is not healthy in the long run.
Also, other prices are increasing in Norway and the inflation is increasing.  Therefore the Central Bank of Norway has notified that the mortgage interest will increase 7 – seven times before the end of 2023.   A rice of 0,25% has already been completed in March this year.

The interest rate is the most important factor when it comes to housing prices.  It is therefore expected that the housing prices will flatten out throughout the spring.

There have been very low interest rates in Norway for many, many years.   Many home buyers have not experienced increases in interest rates.  Although the banks have been obliged to stress test their mortgage customers’ ability to manage an increase in the interest with 5%, it can be a challenge for some people to manage their housing costs.   But experts believe that most people will manage this, they just have to reprioritize. Anyhow, a more moderate price development in housing prices will be a good thing.

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Be aware of new regulations for home buying in Norway from 1.1.2022

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From 1.1.22 a new regulation is being introduced in Norway.  The seller, and the realtor, will be obliged to give more detailed information about the technical standard of the home in the sales material.

The seller may be responsible for incorrect and missing information to the buyers.  He or she has this responsibility also today, but so far court decisions have only made the seller liable for damages if the damage or misinformation amounted to at least 5 percent of the value of the home.  This is a lot of money, and therefore the seller has been imposed to give compensation to the buyer only in a few cases.

In the new law the limit for compensation is decreased down to NOK 10.000.

For this reason, the seller must be much more careful to give ALL the information about the property. He must , through the realtor, order a condition report from a technical expert or surveyor.  The government has made a regulation of how this inspection must be implemented and the contents of the condition report.

The purpose is better protection of the buyer.  This is a good thing in my opinion.

Be aware of the new rule about buyers’ duty to inspect !

As a home buyer  you must be aware that the new law has a rule on the buyers’ duty to inspect before giving a bid.  If you miss some information in the sales material or the technical report, or miss other information given on the viewing,  you cannot complain after the bid has been accepted by the seller.

So, the duties goes both ways in the new law!

My concern as a home buying concultant is to protect the buyer.  I am therefore prepared to help my customers to examine the new technical reports carefully and warn them about risk elements.

If you do not master Norwegian, I will warn you to buy a property without help to translate and interpret all the written material.  This is and will still be,very complicated, even for Norwegians.

Because as I have told you before the bid is binding in Norway.

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