Real estate market analysts were surprised when new figures for January home sales showed an unusually high rise in average prices. That sparked new optimism, but the number of actual sales declined.
The nationwide average for prices was up 3.4 percent over January 2023. That was seasonally adjusted to 0.7 percent, it still prompted the leader of the national residential real estate association Eiendom Norge, Henning Lauridsen, to claim that “the housing market is back.”
Housing prices often rise in January, however, and then came the statistic that a total of 6,757 homes were sold in Norway last month. That was 2.2 percent fewer than the same month last year, and many sellers are still struggling, even after lowering their asking prices.
The recent rise in interest rates has cooled off Norway’s once-hot real estate market. Real estate brokers and lenders, however, point to predictions of higher wage growth, lower inflation and stable or lower interest rates later this year. That, along with pent-up demand for housing and record-low construction of new homes, may boost both sales and prices in the months ahead.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
