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PROPERTY

How much does an apartment in Norway cost?

Most people's first step on the property ladder will be an apartment. However, rising house prices have made buying a flat in Norway increasingly difficult over the past few years. 

Pictured are streets with wooden houses in Trondheim.
The cost of an apartment could vary massively, depending on where you choose to live in Norway. Pictured are streets with wooden houses in Trondheim. Photo by Lucrezia De Agrò on Unsplash

The average home price in Norway is around 4,581,993 kroner, according to the industry organisation Real Estate Norway

Apartments are typically cheaper than detached homes, especially in larger cities where they are more common. 

Flats are around 70 square meters on average in cities and 72 square meters in the rest of the country, according to figures from the Norwegian Homeowners Association

House prices in Norway have skyrocketed over the past five years. 

Five years ago, the average cost of a property in Norway per square meter was 43,000 kroner. These days, this has risen to more than 54,000 kroner when using figures from the price index from property firm Krogsveen

Their calculator uses figures and data from Real Estate Norway, Finn.no, and Eiendomsverdi AS. 

When multiplying the square metre price of property in Norway by the average size of a flat, the average cost of an apartment in Norway would, therefore, be around 3.79 million kroner. 

A quick search on property listing site Finn.no shows that thousands of properties in Norway are listed with an asking price less than this

In Norway, you can only get a mortgage for up to 85 percent of the property’s value. This means you would need a deposit of around 568,500 kroner. 

READ ALSO: What foreign residents in Norway need to know to get a mortgage

If you were to borrow the maximum mortgage rate of 85 percent, or 3.2 million kroner, you would be paying between 18,000 and 19,000 kroner monthly on your mortgage over a 30-year period. 

However, if you want a home closer to the average of 70 square metres, your options become more limited.

This is especially true in Oslo. This is because while the average price per square metre nationally is 54,000 kroner, its 94,171 kroner for the capital.

Therefore, when you multiply the square metre price by the average size, a home in the capital should cost around 6.59 million kroner. 

With this kind of budget, there would be several hundred properties across the capital larger than 70 square meters for you to choose from. Most of these would be apartments, but it would be possible to get terraced, semi-detached and detached houses at this price point. 

To get a mortgage in the capital at this price point you would need a deposit of 988,500 kroner. This equates to monthly mortgage payments of between 31,000 and 32,000 kroner when borrowing the maximum amount.  

When purchasing a flat there are also other costs associated too. Plenty of apartments in Norway belong to a housing association. You typically buy into the joint debt of the housing association, and there will also be monthly fees to pay too. 

READ MORE: The key things you need to know about Norwegian housing associations

The cost of buying in Norway’s other big cities was mostly in line with the national average, which is undoubtedly pushed up by the prices in Oslo. 

In Trondheim, the cost of property is around 55,807 kroner per sqaure metre, meaning it would cost around 3.9 million (and in many cases less) to buy a apartment in the city. 

Property per square metre was actually below the average in Bergen. There, it costs 53,976 kroner per sqaure metre to get on the property ladder. In total, this means you could expect to pay 3.77 million kroner for a decently sized property. 

Stavanger was considerably cheaper than the national square metre average at 45,829 kroner per sqaure metre. This meant that 3.2 million kroner could get you a property of more than 70 square meters in the city. 

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NORWEGIAN HABITS

Five useful things to know before you move to Norway

Moving to a new country comes with plenty of unexpected lessons and surprises. Norway is no different, and here are six things you'll need to know before the move. 

Five useful things to know before you move to Norway

Patience 

While you may presume Norway is an efficient society, and it can be once you get the ball rolling, plenty of patience will be required. 

This is because fixing the essentials can take quite a while. In recent years, long waiting times for residence permits have become common. 

Furthermore, once you are granted residence and given an identity number, setting up things like a bank account could take weeks or months rather than days. 

When it comes to getting a job, interview stages can take a while to get going, especially if periods like the summer holidays or Easter slow things down. 

A shortage of GPs and long patient lists make doctor appointments difficult. Meanwhile, if you decide to make a home in the country, you will likely need to live there for five to eight years before becoming eligible for citizenship. 

READ ALSO: What paperwork do you need to open a bank account in Norway

Norwegian flags 

Norwegians take great pride in their country, and as a result, their flag also features quite prominently. 

If you live in an apartment block, you can normally tell when it’s a neighbour’s birthday, as they will have the Norwegian flag on display. 

Norway’s flag is also featured prominently in other celebrations and festivities. The most famous of these is May 17th or Constitution Day. However, most stores will have year-round sections where it is possible to buy Norwegian flag decorations.

Week numbers 

This one can be frustrating to come to terms with, and for many, it won’t make much sense even after living in the country for a while. 

Norwegians use week numbers to refer to points in time, either in the past of the future. It’s common for you to hear phrases like “We will be closed in week 32, but reopen in week 33 or “The project needs to be finished by week 42

It’ll be typical for a local to rattle of week numbers and expect you to know exactly where in the calendar they are talking about. 

READ ALSO: Why Norwegians use week numbers instead of dates

Reserved locals can make it hard to make friends

One of the toughest aspects of moving somewhere new is establishing a new network of friends. 

Small talk isn’t really huge in Norway, and the locals are known for their reserved and private nature. 

Its unlikely that you’ll be striking up conversations on the bus or that you’ll progress beyond more than a polite greeting with most of your neighbours. 

This is done to respect privacy rather than to be rude or cold. 

However, this can make making friends difficult as plenty of locals don’t make too many more friends in adult life and are content with their circle.

Still, it’s entirely possible to form lifelong friendships with the locals, especially if you just give it time and have something like a shared sport or hobby to break the ice. 

READ ALSO: Settling in Norway: Five places to meet new people and make friends

Festival celebrations 

Norwegians love to celebrate, and that’s why you’ll soon be marking your calendar with events like sankthansaften or syttende mai

The best thing about these festivals or days is that they come with a whole host of specific traditions or foods. 

Sankthansaften see’s people gather round bonfires to celebrate the summer solstice, it’s also typical for children to collect wild flowers to put underneath their pillows so they can dream about their future partner. 

Santa Lucia is marked every year on December 13th, and some people make special buns and see children visit old people’s homes for light processions. 

Then they are the more individual family traditions that surround New Year’s, Easter, Christmas and May 17th. 

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