Mises.org readers were alerted to the housing bubble in Norway in January 2013. It now appears that the bubble is starting to crash.
Brokers have had to recalibrate after more than five years of a booming market where homes sold for as much as 50 percent above the asking price. During the peak, DNB Eiendom’s Dahl said she sold a property outside of Oslo for 4 million kroner after seven bidders drove up the 2.5 million kroner asking price. Christoffer Askjer, a partner at broker Sem and Johnsen Eiendomsmegling, used to get calls at 6 a.m. from frantic buyers with bids. He’s no longer seeing the same froth.
“The motivation from buyers isn’t there,” he said. Sem and Johnsen target the middle to upper price segment in the Oslo housing market and has had property sales valued at 5 billion kroner so far this year. “It’s hard to be optimistic because we’re in a transition period where we have lower activity.”
