So those of you who are here with me in Oslo, Norway are probably very aware of the housing shortage. You are probably even more aware of it if you are looking for a place to live (like we are). It is really frustrating and difficult to find anything reasonable. And you can forget hoping for it to be anywhere near the city center. Which means you need to either have a car or be satisfied with long public transportation commutes.
I don’t really know why there is a housing shortage here in Oslo right now. It doesn’t make sense either, because I just heard on the news that the prices for apartments and houses in the city are going down. Don’t you think with a housing shortage that the prices would go up? Hmmm….
All I know is its too freaking hard to find a good place to live here, and that stresses me out. This alone makes me want to just leave Oslo. Its hard not having a home!
**Side note: Check out mortgage quotes here.**
3 responses so far ↓
1 Kristian // Oct 2, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Hey Kristie. Excellent blog (although I might be a little biased as I’m a norwegian AND I live in Oslo) :)
I’m a student, so I’m trying to stay on top of what’s going on with the housing marked as the smallest change in the price level could shatter my budget and force me to move.
Basically, what’s happening now is that the overall economy is weaker, people have less money to spend and there are fewer buyers on the market. That’s why housing prices are falling. That’s a good thing, right? Well, no.
First of all, the interest rates are going up, so getting a loan is harder, and way too expensive for most people. On the other side of the fence are the home owners wanting to sell, but who naturally want to make as much money as possible when selling, so they’re holding on to their properties even though the interest rates are going up.. and what do they do to be able to be able to pay their loans? Well, those who can, increase the rent. Sigh.
As if renting an appartement wasn’t expensive enough here in Oslo already.
2 Caroline // Oct 2, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Good to see you back! Hope you find something soon.
3 Cindy King // Oct 4, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I enjoyed your article and included it in my Blog Carnival (seen at http://cindyking.biz/international-marketer-review-blog-carnival-20/) .
Also, I stumbled this post
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