On the same day that Statistics Norway was able to announce that mortgage interest rates had been increased to a new peak level, the figures came which show that it means nothing for the housing market.
Eiendom Norge reports that prices in March rose by 0.9 per cent, which came on top of the increase of 4.9 per cent in the first two months of the year.
Adjusted for seasonal variations, there is also a clear increase of 0.6 per cent.
– House prices rose by 0.9 per cent in March, which gave a strong rise of 0.6 per cent seasonally adjusted. The strong development from the first two months of the year continued in March and exceeds what everyone envisioned at the beginning of the year, says CEO Henning Lauridsen of Eiendom Norge.
Sharp fall in unsold homes
Part of the reason is significantly lower offers:
– At the start of 2024, many were concerned that the large offer in the second-hand housing market. In the first quarter of the year, the supply has been significantly reduced. This also applies to Bodø and Tromsø, where the number of unsold through the autumn of last year broke the curve, he says.
Earlier this week, Obos was able to report that their apartments increased almost twice as much as normal in March.
There are sometimes large differences in the country. Bergen had the strongest seasonally adjusted price development in March, where prices rose by 1.9 per cent. In Kristiansand there is a decrease of 0.6 per cent.
– Although there are some regional differences, house price developments have generally been very strong so far this year. Usually, most of the house price growth during a year has come in the first half of the year and especially the first quarter. We expect a strong second-hand housing market going forward, but that the price trend will probably slow somewhat in the coming months, says Lauridsen.
Chief economist: – Many people overestimate the housing market now
Chief economist Kyrre M. Knudsen at SpareBank 1 SR-Bank believes the figures may hide more sinister trends:
– It’s probably a month on the positive side. There are therefore positive rates in the market and better than most had predicted in advance. However, house prices are roughly the same as a year ago. There is therefore a significant drop in real prices, he says to Nettavisen.
The reason is quite simply that inflation has been much higher than the rise in prices in the past year.
– Unfortunately, I think that many people are overestimating the housing market now. I believe that it is too early to state that the danger of a housing crisis is over. The average figures hide pessimistic regional figures in several places. We also know that an unusual number of people have withdrawn their homes from the market. This means that the real number of unsold homes in the market is probably higher than the official figures show. We must pay attention to that, he warns.
CEO Henning Lauridsen of Eiendom Norge explains here why he does not think the proportion of unsold homes affects the price to any great extent: