I wanted to talk a little about housing in Norway. I have personally not bought or rented property since I have been in Norway, but have found some helpful information on the internet that I can share with you about the housing in Norway.
Housing in Norway
As a rule, housing is quite expensive in Norway (as everything else). But I am sure it is possible to find affordable and inexpensive housing in Norway if you really try! According to many sites the costs of housing in Norway is rising quite dramatically and is expected to continue, so be prepared!
You can always expect that the closer to a city center you want to live the more you will pay. For example, my husband and I were looking for an apartment to rent downtown Oslo. The prices were really crazy. But outside the city center (but still reachable by metro or bus) it was much more affordable. So it will really depend on where your looking weather it is outrageously expensive or not.
On particular article described why housing in Norway tends to be so expensive, “The cost of housing in Norway is generally high for several reasons: houses are well built and fully insulated, with heating in all rooms because of the cold climate. In addition, quality requirements are high, which means that there is little simple and inexpensive housing available.”
Buying property in Norway
So your moving to Norway and want to buy your own home? I am not an expert at this, but I have to say with the prices for renting a place here…buying property in Norway is one of the smartest things you can do (at least from my inexperienced opinion). Like I said, I am not an expert on this subject at all but I did do some digging on the internet and found a few helpful ideas and suggestions.
If you are looking to purchase your home, one of the most common places to look for available properties is on finn.no. Also looking in local newspapers like Aftenposten is always a good idea.
What I have heard suggested by friends here in Norway is that you should really hire a real estate agent to help you buy a home. If you are looking for a real estate agent in Norway you can always check out the Norwegian yellow pages gulesider.no and search for the term “Eiendomsmegling”.
Renting property in Norway
This is something I have a teeny bit more experience with…or should I say I don’t have experience with renting property in Norway, but with TRYING to rent property in Norway 
FYI we currently rent a very small room from a friend which doesn’t count in my opinion as ‘renting property’. You know what I mean?
We have tried to rent apartments in Oslo’s city center that were way to small to be as expensive as they were. Thankfully the renters did not seem to take well to the fact that neither I nor my husband are Norwegian. That’s a whole other story in itself…so I wont go there for now!
From what I understand and have experienced in Norway, if you want to rent an apartment you should just look for it on finn.no. Everything seems to be listed on finn. (If I’m wrong…somebody please correct me and shed some light on my ignorance!) My husband who has lived in Norway for ten years swears that that is the only way to find a rental in Norway, or at least in Oslo.
I personally find it strange that there seems to be only ONE place to find apartments to rent. I guess it works, but it just seems strange! Plus there is always a huge demand for housing (or at least it has seemed like it every time we tried to find something to escape our very small room) which makes it a bit of a challenge to find something nice/affordable.
As with buying property, you can also find apartments to rent in Aftenposten and other local newspapers’ classified section.
I hope I have been a little helpful to you on your search to find housing in Norway! Good luck!
Do you buy or rent property in Norway? Share with us any advice you have on the subject in a comment below!
14 responses so far ↓
1 Mats - Notes about the World // Aug 2, 2008 at 9:38 am
Having gone through the ritual that is finding a place to rent in Oslo far too many times, I want to add some things: As well as looking at finn.no, the paper newspaper “Aften Aften” is a good source for listings. Aften Aften and finn.no runs the same ads but the newspaper usually have a couple more and have the ads a bit earlier than the website. At least it used to when I was looking.
The housing market in Oslo was one of the main reasons I decided to move abroad and away from Oslo, if not the one main reason.. It’s a nightmare. However, if you’re a couple you have a great advantage in finding something. The best advice for getting a flat is getting a partner first, I think.. until then, share with others. (which is quite nice in Oslo).
2 Kristie // Aug 2, 2008 at 10:59 pm
@Mats – Notes about the World: Hey Mats – thanks so much for more advice. I know how difficult it is to find a place in Norway sometimes too and I know others out there in the same situation appreciate any help they can get! Thank you so much for the suggestion!
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5 Stine // Aug 5, 2008 at 1:20 pm
The best advice I can offer is: check out commuting… Where we are (South East of Oslo), the rental prices are much more affordable than in Oslo itself. Buying prices too, and lots of people sell up their homes in the city and buy out here – with money to spare… But then there’s the commute.
6 Stefan // Aug 8, 2008 at 9:49 am
I’m doing the whole commuting thing. It’s amazing that, if you’re open to spending a bit more time in the car, the amount of money you save on rent/mortgage is tremendous.
That goes for Sydney, as well as any other major city as well. I did the same for San Francisco.
7 William // Mar 1, 2009 at 3:54 pm
@KRISTIE where can you go to find rooms for rent or shared housing in Oslo? I’m going to have to do it soon and would love to get a jump start on it thanx
8 Robert // Apr 29, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Norway is one of the most expensive and worst countries to live in. Average income for an engineer is 230000 NOK /year after taxes (36% income tax, 28 % VAT) (35K USD). Rent is about 10.000 NOK/month for a small one bedroom apartment in Oslo. Food Costs 7000Nok /month.
The people are shy, distant, and don’t like to answer if you don’t speak perfect Norwegian. Not a friendly bunch at all. If you are not family, you basically don’t exist for them. As a travel destination, spend the same money in a sunny country, that has the same kind of beauty, with nice people to hang our with. The country has nice Fjords, but do you want to spend 6000 USD on a week-long round-trip, where you barely get to talk to anyone? On the other hand, if you’re a lone-wolf, enoying being alone, and if you have tons of cash to spare, Norway is a clean and safe destination.
9 Scott // Jul 8, 2010 at 9:56 pm
To comment Robert, What type of engineer are you to get 230000NOK per year. The average is way higher than that. That is about the average salary for a barman.
I agree with your other comments, I live in oslo by myself and find it really hard to meet people in my own age group as they all are starting familes. It seems as though there is nothing on the TV so Norwegians just get busy with it!
10 vikram // Jul 21, 2010 at 5:22 pm
hello,
can anyone tell me where and how can i find a reasonable affordable accomodation which is near to sandvika?
i dont mind travelling any distance provided it is not too costly and not more than an hour
any idea of nice cheap rental places near sandvika would be helpful
thanks a lot!
vikram
11 Ivan // Jul 31, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I have to entirely disagree with Robert and Scott’s comments regarding the people of Norway. I spent a year working there, spending most of my time in Drammen and Oslo, but also smaller places further from the capital and have been returning to visit the country 2-4 times a year for the last 10 years.
I met almost no-one who made a fuss about speaking english, in fact most are eager to as it allows for a bit of practice. More often than not I found myself being apologised to by someone with excellent spoken english for how poor their’s was.
In the year that I worked there I met two people who spoke no english and one of them was Icelandic.
As for being “Not a friendly bunch at all” I take it you’ve never been to a norspiel, been invited to a family gathering on May 17th or a New Year’s party at the drop of a hat, all of which I have been my experience.
Yes the country is expensive for most item, in particular anything that incurs a lot of employment costs (e.g. bars, restaurants and fast food), cars are also very expensive, being about double the cost in my home the UK.
As for accommodation costs it amazes me how many people complain about that of Oslo, it is after all the country’s capital. Try comparing the costs there with cities such as London, Paris and Berlin.
By comparison the cost of accommodation in Oslo’s suburbs is about 20-25% more than in my home city of Manchester, whereas in towns like Drammen and Porsgrunn, the costs are about the same as here.
Finally as for Robert’s comment of it being one of the “worst countries to live in” I guess that’s why it’s held the top spot in the UN’s “Quality of Life Index” for several years.
12 Andrea // Aug 1, 2010 at 2:59 am
Norway is definitely expensive, but definitely not one of the worst places to live. Price is all relative. Costs are higher, but so is earning, as well as what you get back from the government.
I’m lucky that I lived here for a year when I was in high school, so I already have a network of people, so can’t comment on communication or social settings – although I’ve NEVER found Norwegians to be unfriendly or dismissive. They love their country, and are generally thrilled when others come in to share it – especially if you’re positive about it yourself!!
Another good place to look for houses/work/cars etc online is zett.no – just as good as finn.no.
13 Jaydeep // Dec 12, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Read through the blog and the comments. They were very informative. One thing I would like to know, I am currently in India and will be flying to Oslo soon. How do I go about renting an accomadation in advance?
14 Haribabu // Jan 8, 2012 at 5:14 pm
It’s very good information all about life style in Oslo. I need to travel Oslo next few days. Can any one suggest me source of renting budget accommodation.
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