Sales of newly built housing have fallen for the sixth month in a row, reports homebuilders’ association Boligprodusentenes Forening. Total sales for 2021, however, are still expected to exceed those in 2020.
New statistics show sales down 23 percent last month, compared to December 2020. A total of 26,226 new homes and condominiums were sold during all of 2021, just 2 percent higher than the year before. While the year started off strong, sales began falling in early summer, with sales during the second-half of 2021 ending up 22 percent lower than in the same six-month period in 2020.
“The first half of 2021 was good, as were housing starts,” said Per Jæger of the homebuilders’ group, “whereas sales and starts in the second half were low and declining.” The most active area for homebuilding and sales continues to be Akershus, the region surrounding Oslo. Sales in Oslo itself, where prices are highest, fell around 25 percent last year while housing starts rose by 2 percent. The real estate market in general has cooled off, a trend tied to an expected rise in interest rates.
newsinenglish.no staff
