If you’re thinking about moving to Norway, then you are going to want to either find a place to rent, or even find a house that you can buy.
I usually recommend most foreigners to rent the first time they move to Norway in order to check out the area and get a feel for what they are after, but you should definitely consider buying a house if you’re planning on staying in the same place for more than 3 years.
But how do you even go about to find houses for sale in Norway? Let’s take a closer look at how to find houses for sale easily in Norway.
PS. this article is only about how to find houses to buy in Norway, so it’s not for finding an apartment or house to rent. To learn more about finding a place to rent, check out the article about easily renting apartments in Norway.
How to find houses for sale in Norway on Finn.no
The number one website for house listing in Norway is Finn.no, and you will want to learn how to use this website if you are looking to buy a house in Norway.
Finn.no is only available in Norwegian, so you will either want to learn some basic Norwegian or rely on Google Translate to be able to use it.
Finn.no is free to use when browsing and buying houses, but the house sellers pay to put their house listing there.
Here’s how to find houses for sale in Norway on Finn.no:
- Go to Finn.no’s main website.
- Click on “Eiendom”
- Click on “Bolig til salgs“.
- Use the left sidebar to limit your search. Such as limit by region, price point, number of bedrooms etc.
- Click on houses that look interesting to you.
When you have opened house listings that look interesting, read up on them to learn more about the property. There is usually a lot of information available on the ads, but you can always contact the real estate agent from the listing to get more information.
Another tip is to type in the city, district or area under the place called “Søk i Eiendom“. This is just a regular search field, so it’s good for limiting the listings.
Again, you are going to have to rely on Google Translate, since the listing will almost always be in Norwegian.
If you find a place that looks interesting, the next step is to book a viewing. This is done by contacting the real estate agent on the right sidebar of the listing.
Either call the real estate agent directly, or send them an e-mail to set up an appointment. Most real estate agents work long hours, so they will usually be open to answer your calls most of the day.
Some real estate listings will offer a viewing at your leisure, but many have public viewing where all interested parties can come and look at the property at the same time.
Homes for sale in Oslo Norway
Properties in Oslo are by far the most popular, sought after and most expensive in all of Norway, so this particular section will focus just on finding a home for sale in Oslo.
To see all Oslo homes for sale on Finn.no, simply click here. This takes you to all Oslo properties for sale, but you can use the left-hand sidebar to filter the results to selected areas within Oslo.
Oslo real estate is usually very expensive, but there tend to be plenty of homes for sale at all times. As of writing this, there are over 2,200 homes for sale in Oslo, so at least you will have many different prospects.
Other websites to find houses for sale in Norway
Most people consider Finn.no the bread and butter of house listings in Norway, and 99 % of all houses for sale in Norway are listed on it. However, some people prefer to use other websites for one reason or another.
There are certainly a few other options, primarily from real estate agents’ websites. These will have fewer listings, but you only need one, right?
Below are some other websites with house listings:
Some of these are primarily focusing on certain areas, most commonly Oslo and the other large cities. However, I think that some of these websites might be useful to check out, so try them out and see if you can find some interesting houses for sale there.
Also be aware that most of these listings will also be on Finn.no, so you might end up finding a lot of double listings when browsing these other websites.
Get a real estate agent to find houses for sale in Norway for you
If you don’t want to look at listing on houses for sale in Norway for yourself, another option is to get in touch with a real estate agent.
Most real estate agencies have real estate agents who can help you out with finding houses for sale in Norway. This is typically done by making an appointment with them and telling them what you are after. You agree to a budget and the type of house you are looking to buy, then they start looking for you.
It’s not really common for real estate agents to be as proactive as they are in other countries, so you need to be prepared to do most of the work yourself.
They will usually set up viewing appointments for houses you are interested in, but it’s not common for them to personally attend the viewing on your behalf. However, it’s possible if you are prepared to pay premium for it!
Most Norwegians who are looking to buy a house won’t book a real estate agent to help them, but rather use Finn.no and other website to find viewings themselves.
The real estate agent selling the house is working on behalf of both parties
Another important point to be aware of then looking to find houses for sale in Norway is that the seller will have a real estate agent helping with the sale. But they are not working for the seller directly.
Instead, the Norwegian real estate agents acts as middlemen, and work on behalf of both the buyer and the seller. So they will not agree to hide any important information from the buyer or anything like that.
That said, real estate agents work on a commission basis, so they are going to look to make as much money as possible from the sale.
How to make an offer or bid to buy a home in Norway
Let’s skip ahead a bit, and let’s assume that you find a home in Norway that you like to buy. In contrast to what you would do in many countries, you simply cannot just buy the property for the suggested price, but must instead partake in a bidding war to have the highest offer.
Make a bid to buy the house
To make a bid for a house in Norway, get in touch with the real estate agent who is responsible for the house. You are free to choose any offer you like, and must present the offer in written form with a deadline (which needs to be at least 30 minutes, and at least after 12:00 the day after a public viewing of the property).
The written offer is then sent to the e-mail address or by SMS to the real estate agent. The realtor will then present the seller with the offer, and they are free to accept or decline it.
Once you give an offer, the real estate agent will usually inform all interested parties to let them know that an offer has been made, trying to urge them to make a higher bid.
The property seller is free to accept or decline your offer, independently of whether or not they receive other offers. Some sellers just want to get the property sold fast, while others insist on getting a sum that is higher than the suggested value.
What happens next?
If you win the offer, congrats! The next step is to set up a contract with the real estate agent, and make sure the finances are in order.
If you instead get outbid by another party, you need to decide if you want to increase the bid or not. You are free to keep bidding for as long as you want, and the real estate agent will inform you if anyone else makes a higher offer for the Norway home.
How much is a house in Norway?
Houses are pretty expensive in Norway, and even older houses from 50 years ago will cost you a small fortune. There are not enough houses for everyone in the bigger cities and popular areas in Norway, and strict laws for building materials and regulations in newer houses make it extremely expensive to build housing.
You should expect to pay anywhere between 1,500,000 NOK ($150,000) for the cheapest decent houses in smaller villages and towns, and at least 3,000,000 NOK ($300,000) or more for a house in a medium-sized city in Norway.
And don’t even get me started on how many million Norwegian kroner you need to pay for a house in a big city like Oslo, Bergen or Trondheim..
We have already published a detailed article about the housing prices in Norway, so check it out if you want more details (and examples) of housing prices in the different parts of Norway.
Find cabins for sale in Norway
Norway has a unique cabin culture, and there are over 500,000 cabins in Norway all together. Most cabins have less amenities than a regular home in Norway, and comes with certain restrictions when it comes to living in them.
However, many people are looking to buy a cabin in Norway for one reason or another. Owning a cabin won’t give you any additional rights to enter Norway, but at least it gives you a place to call home (or your second home) in Norway.
The method for finding cabins for sale in Norway is almost the same as for regular Norway real estate, but there’s a small key difference when you’re searching on Finn:
Use “Fritidsbolig til salgs” instead of “Bolig til salgs“. This means that the method for finding a cabin for sale in Norway is to:
- Go to Finn.no’s main website.
- Click on “Eiendom”
- Click on “Fritidsbolig til salgs“.
- Use the left sidebar to limit your search. Such as limit by region, price point, number of bedrooms etc.
- Click on cabins that look interesting to you.
And after that the method is just the same: Get in touch with the real estate agent, set up a viewing, and make an offer if you want to buy it. The process is 99 % the same as buying a regular Norway home.