Housing, Housing Prices | Oslo prices explode: Frode could only afford a bedroom in his and his son’s apartment



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High house prices in the capital create challenges for those who want to enter the real estate market.

On Thursday, Eiendom Norge released home price statistics for November. In Oslo, house prices rose 1.1 percent in November and, seasonally adjusted, 1.2 percent.

In the last twelve months, the price increase in the capital has reached 10.4 percent.

– It’s completely wild. It is nothing new that there is huge price growth in Oslo and that it is becoming more and more expensive. But politicians and we as a society must ask questions when the pain threshold is reached for when people can no longer afford to buy.

Frode Pleym (44) tells Nettavisen. He is one of those who has seen how difficult the housing market is in Oslo. Last year he moved to Oslo after ten years abroad and has rented a house so far.

In August, he started looking for an apartment to buy for himself and his son, and he wanted two bedrooms. But the dream went to the sink. He could only afford an apartment with more than one bedroom.

– We are very happy to have an apartment even though it only has one bedroom. We live very well with a small apartment, he says.

Avisa Oslo first mentioned the purchase of a home by Pleym and his son.

– Expensive to rent

Although he has managed to break into the housing market himself, Pleym still worries about what housing price developments are like across the city.

– Many people fall off the load and do not have the opportunity to buy. If inflation continues like this, it is logical that more people leave. Politicians cannot allow that to happen, he says.

It’s not just about renting either, because after renting a home for the past year, you see that the prices in the rental market are also high.

– It is at least as expensive to rent as to own. The quality of the apartments also varies a lot. It’s the seller’s and landlord’s market, and it will be a problem for those who don’t have great equity or high incomes, he says.

Pleym hopes that something can be done to ensure that the supply side matches the demand side.

– We must build more in metropolitan areas. At the same time, we must achieve stricter regulation of the rental market, because houses are priced too high because demand is greater than supply, he says.

Also read: The municipality of Oslo must accelerate the construction of houses

Must live centrally

Pleym managed to buy a 43 square meter apartment at Sofienbergparken on Grünerløkka in Oslo. For this he paid 3.8 million crowns.

Although the apartment has only one bedroom, which the son will receive, Pleym intends to find a solution in the living room for his own sleeping space.

However, he is fully aware that they would have gotten more for their money if they had moved out of the central districts of Oslo, but it was not an option for them.

– We had to find an apartment close to where my son goes to school and where he has his friends and his circle of friends, explains Pleym.

Also read: How to be successful in the bidding round: don’t do this (+)

– It is so simplified to say that people have to leave the city. Not everyone has this opportunity and it may be, for example, a family or work situation. Plus, it’s starting to get too expensive for many, even a good distance out of town, he says.

You have also noticed that houses outside ring two in Oslo, both to buy and to rent, have risen in price.

When both rental and purchase prices are high, Pleym decided to try to buy a house for the sake of his son.

– I wanted something stable and long-term for him, and I’m very lucky to have achieved that, says Pleym.

Rental prices dropped

Although Pleym experiences high rental prices in Oslo, new figures from Husleie do not show that rental prices have dropped in November.

The average price decreased from NOK 12,554 in October to NOK 12,149 in November. In Oslo, rental prices are now 4.1% lower than a year ago, in November 2019.

Rental prices across Norway for November fell 2.2 percent compared to October. Compared to November 2019, prices are 0.8% higher nationally.

– November and December are traditionally quite quiet months in the rental market. But the crown is affecting the market. Among other things, we see that smaller houses have become very popular because many do not want to share an apartment with someone during a pandemic, says Husleie.no general manager Kjetil J. Olsen.

– For Oslo, the market crashed at the start of the first corona wave, but many students arrived early to find housing before the start of studies this year, making June the strongest month of the year for the capital with a price average of 13,430 crowns, he says.

However, keep in mind that only about 15 percent of the Norwegian home rental market is served by Husleie.no.

Also read: predicts incredible price growth – experts have no doubts about which areas of Oslo you should invest in (+)

Normally weak market

November is not traditionally a strong month in the housing market, for example, prices fell 0.8 percent last year.

– House prices in Norway fell nominally in November, which is normal for the month. However, there are big differences in the evolution of house prices. Cities like Tromsø, Trondheim, Bodø and Oslo have seen strong development in house prices in the past month, Eiendom Norge CEO Henning Lauridsen says in a press release.

– These are very strong figures for Oslo, Lauridsen said at the press conference. The price increase was like that, as the experts feared. According to Eiendom Norge, the construction of 10,000 new homes in Oslo could cause a 10 percent drop in house prices in the capital.

Also read: Horror figures about the real estate market: – This is worrying

In the last twelve months, house prices in Norway have risen 7.8 percent in total. Lauridsen believes that the rise in house prices in Norway this year has definitely been stronger than expected.

Most of the people trying to make forecasts for house prices this year have probably failed quite a bit because of the crown, said Eiendom manager Norge. He estimates that December will also be stronger than usual, with more homes for sale than normal.

Good start

– We expect that we will carry with us a fairly strong activity in 2021, Lauridsen said.

Figures from Eiendom Norge on Thursday show that house prices fell 0.1 percent from October to November.

Nominally, it is the first time in eight months that prices have fallen. But if we correct what the normal seasonal fluctuations are, there was an increase in November of 0.8 percent. It is the seventh consecutive month with a seasonally adjusted increase.

In Bergen, house prices fell 0.5 percent in November, but here prices tend to drop further. In Trondheim, house prices were unchanged in the previous month, which is 1.3% stronger than normal. House prices fell 1.4 percent in Stavanger, but seasonally adjusted there was a 0.2 percent increase.

Also read: Seller in Grünerløkka: Outside is anything but luxury. Just wait until you see inside

Interest continues

Carl O. Geving, executive director of the Norwegian Real Estate Association, says in a comment that price developments are stronger than normal and there is little indication that home interest will decline.

– The development confirms NEF’s analysis of the housing market in the crown year 2020. Most people have had better finances as a result of low interest rates and Norwegians prioritize home purchases during the pandemic, says Geving .

Nordea’s director of retail market, Randi Marjamaa, says in a comment that there is still good momentum in the market and houses of all kinds are selling across the country.

– We experience that there are few cases where the bidding rounds fully take off and most homes go directly to appraisal. In a normal year, the housing market calms down in December, but it will be exciting to see how the market turns out this Christmas, Marjamaa says.

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