Flere selger under prisantydning: – Det reelle avslaget er ofte større

The Norwegian holiday cottage market in Southern Norway has not been affected by the summer's downturn, with 595 holiday cottages sold between June 1 and August 10 this year, compared to 650 in the same period last year, according to Finn.no's announcement service. This represents a near halving from the peak year of 2020, when 1,034 holiday cottages were sold.

Two-thirds of this year's holiday cottages were sold underpriced, measured by the last advertised price. Real estate expert Eirik Dysthe of Finn Eiendom notes that this could be masking earlier price reductions. A hytte that started at 5 million kroner, was adjusted to 4.5 million, and finally sold for 4.4 million is considered "sold under pricing" with a 100,000 kroner variance.

The real sale price a seller had in mind is often much higher than the figures show, Dysthe tells E24. Unusually strong demand during the pandemic years of 2020-21 put pressure on sale prices, driving them under pricing. Since then, the trend has reversed. Only 23 percent of sales went under pricing this summer, compared to near 40 percent in 2020-22, according to Dysthe.

Median buyers are now negotiating 4.6 percent below pricing, while the median sale price sits about on pricing in the median for 2020-22, he says. As E24 reported earlier this summer, the weaker market is also reflected in extended listing times. The median time for cottages sold in the summer is 32 days, one day up from last year, and 12 days up from 2024, while it took less than half the time during the pandemic.

Nearly all sales happen under 10 million kroner, with four sales over 20 million kroner this summer, the same as in the peak year of 2023. Fresh statistics from Eiendom Norge show 1,098 seaside vacation homes were sold in the first half of the year, up from 960 in the first half of last year, highlighting the picture from Finn.no.

The average price was over 3.5 million kroner, down 5.4 percent from the same period last year. The gap between sale price and pricing was -1.6 percent, compared to -2.0 percent in the first half of last year, according to Eiendom Norge. Premier real estate agents Færder and Lillesand have the highest prices, with Blindleia in Færder and Hvasser in Lillesand, commanding the top prices.

Estate agent Henning Hesselberg has had a four-magnitude large western coast property in Vesterøy in Hvaler on the market since last summer. When E24 contacted him before summer, the price was 16.8 million kroner. It is now reduced to 15.5 million kroner. The listing movement has been slight but has slowed as the conversion speed has become slower.

Perhaps it might take a year to sell, and perhaps the sale will happen next summer, Hesselberg tells E24. Although there was a three-week break in July, they have sold 8-9 cottages in the same time last year. The temperature is falling, and soon people start thinking about autumn holiday in the mountains. When windows for seaside sales close, the question is when.

"As long as the cottages are out there for sale, there is a window to sell," Hesselberg says. But at some point, sellers will remove the property from Finn. He explains that it also has a natural explanation that a sales contract takes six months, typically from April to October. Furniture, water, and setting up for display are no longer needed.

Buyers are there all year, while offers decrease as we get closer to autumn vacation, Hesselberg says. Traffic on Finn.no shows that the dream of a seaside cottage is thriving. Holiday cottage listings on Finn.no had 10.1 million page views in summer, up 9 percent from 2023. There have also been 182,000 favorites, with 133 favorites per active listing, compared to 114 favorites last year.

He expects interest in holiday cottages to decrease as focus shifts to the mountains. There are currently 3,300 active listings, the all-time high, says Finn-toppen.