BRISTOL (Nettavisen): Sarah Midtgaard, senior economist at Handelsbanken Norge, takes a deep dive into interest rates at this autumn’s housing conference.
– We think it could be a terrible, cold autumn and winter in the housing market, because unsold houses are in record numbers, he tells Netavisen in this video interview:
Northern Norway is particularly hard hit:
– Especially in Tromsø and Bodø, as well as in Innlandet, we see an accumulation in the number of unsold houses.
– Nettavisen mentioned a desperate home owner in Bodø on Wednesday who reduced the price from 14 k 8 to six million and still can’t sell. Will this be the new “normal”?
– We see that both Bodø and Tromsø are “interest-rate sensitive”, so those cities may experience a sharp drop in prices because prices have risen so much in the years we’ve left. But in the long term, as we go into 2025, we think prices will rise, here too, he explains.
Also read: 6 million to sell below estimate: – Market collapses
Bodo: Price reduced by 6 million
Homeowner Gary Lloyd Grimstad in Bodo can’t sell his house, even though he’s reduced the price by six million – from NOK 14 to NOK 8 million.
This price example was first mentioned in a local newspaper Picture now.
Also Read: Prices rise 3.7 percent this year
– Sell first
– Is it a play to lower the price by six million?
– Yes, very much, but he repeats that house prices have increased tremendously in the last ten years in Bodo.
– Does that mean we have until 2025 to absolutely sell before buying a home?
– Nationally we hope that next spring, especially in Oslo, the growth will become a little faster. But now that we’re in, and we expect house prices to fall beyond the fall, it may be safer to sell a house before buying a new one, the senior economist responded.
Price growth in Norway over the last 12 months 1.3 percent down.
If you find yourself in an unfortunate situation No Can sell, but have already bought a new house, paying thousands of kroner extra while you “wait” for sky-high interest rates on intermediate financing.
The average turnover time in September was 40 days, compared to 29 days in September 2022, figures from Eiendom Norge show.
The number of homes sold in September 2023 was 9,091, down 7.2 percent from September 2022.
– Not since before the financial crisis
Mitgard says they didn’t see each other before the financial crisis:
– All these house prices need to fall further to sell their homes, but we think that will change in the spring of next year.
Handelsbanken believes the interest rate peak has been reached, meaning we won’t get another rate hike at the next interest rate meeting on December 14 – Norges Bank has announced.
– This means that families need to take into account that even if we think the peak has been reached, it may happen.
– High interest throughout 2024
In any case – there is no reason to rejoice prematurely:
– Home interest rates tend to be higher in the long term. Norges Bank doesn’t want to cut anything for the rest of next year, so close mortgage interest rates 5.75 Percentage throughout 2024.
For many of us, this is dramatic:
– The interest burden has risen sharply in the past two years and is now approaching ten percent, so people with more debt relative to disposable income are feeling it more, says Mitgard.
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