Norway property market “thriving”

The country's economy, buoyed by low unemployment figures of 3 per cent and a high quantity of natural resources, has helped to bolster the housing market, where prices have risen consistently for several years in a row.

Leif Laugen, Chief Executive of real estate firm Krogsveen, highlights Drammen as one the main hotspots for rising prices:.
The house prices were low compared to Oslo and some of the other suburbs, but in the latest two years, the prices have increased most in Drammen," he told the New York Times.
But the town still remains cheaper than Oslo: "If you sell a two-bedroom apartment in Oslo, you can buy a huge house in Drammen with that money," one local resident commented.
"It's definitely a seller's market," added Laugen.

Indeed, demand for property in Norway is outstripping supply across the country, pushing values up by 27 per cent since 2009. The rising figures have sparked fears in some that the market is now in a bubble, but Laugen argues that the economy, with its sizeable middle class and regularly increasing wages, is keeping the bubble in check.

And now, with the oil and gas industries booming, engineers and other workers from abroad are arriving in the country and snapping up the property - not just one particular country, but investors from everywhere.

Odd André Engh, a broker with Eie Eiendomsmegling, told the paper: "It could be Sweden, it could be the U.S., the Middle East, from all over."

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