Year-end figures showed that housing prices in Norway rose an average of 2.8 percent in 2018, in line with average wage growth. The figures from the real estate association Eiendom Norge also showed that the total number of homes sold was higher than in the record year of 2015.
Brokers think the real estate market has settled into a less-frantic and healthier situation than in recent years. It’s taking longer to sell homes, but that gives buyers more time to evaluate property and most do sell in the end. It took 63 days on average to sell a home at the end of last year, two days more than in 2017. Oslo remains the strongest market with the most rapid turnover, with homes on the market for an averge 36 days before selling. Stavanger was the slowest, at 103 days.
“After flat prices through the autumn, developments in December were stronger than normal,” Christian Dreyer, chief executive of Eiendom Norge reported. He said that the close correlation between the rise in housing prices and average incomes “is good for financial stability and for the Norwegian economy.”
A total of 2,963 homes were sold nationwide in December, 1.3 percent more than in the same month in 2017. Sales through the whole year were up 4.9 percent over 2017, at more than 90,000, and 2.6 percent over the record year in 2015.
newsinenglish.no staff
