The Government has presented an action plan to build 130,000 new homes by 2030. At the same time as there is a crying need, especially in the big cities, over 200,000 homes are empty in Norway.
Rents are hysterical, a quick search reveals that 60 square meters at Solli in Oslo are rented out for 24,000 a month, while the same size at Bakklandet in Trondheim is 20,000. Rents that eat up most of the available capital for most people, and high property prices that make it almost impossible to enter the housing market are driven by low availability in the cities.
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200,000 homes are empty in Norway
“I don’t think there will be 200,000 more homes on the market. But there are far too many empty homes for us not to take this seriously and look at the possibilities,” says Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Bjørnar Skjæran (Labor) to E24.
The newspaper has gained access to a recent analysis of empty homes in Norway from Socio-economic Analysis. The exact number is 202,013 homes.
Of these, 91,556 are located in the major cities and surrounding regions, including the Oslo area.
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The report proposes several measures to get the homes into use, including housing obligation and taxation of unoccupied homes. However, the Minister of Local Government rejects these proposals at the moment.
“I think there are several steps we can take. But again, the Norwegian State Housing Bank and the Directorate for Building Quality will help us obtain an overview. Because the differences are so great that we must have an approach that is sensible and accurate,” says Skjæran.
The report points to several reasons why the homes are empty. In rural areas, this may be due to emigration, inheritance or that the homes are in poor condition. In larger cities, owners can wait for favorable times for sale or renovation, or they are used as commuter housing.
