Denmark has a more extensive public housing program, where you can rent apartments or housing fairly cheap.
Because most of Norway is sparsely populated leading to excess supply in some areas, homes and properties are often handed down, many homes and properties are run down and are sold for lower pricing when there aren’t catches like the home having negative value or farming being required.
There are lots of reasons, but most boil down to homes being handed down over generations and cheap supply in much of the country. Go to these places everyone think are the dream places they want to move to. Look at the cost of homes and be shocked, but they’re calling them “expensive”. I had a conversation with a woman selling her home near a major area of the north. In central Europe, it would be around 900,000 Euros or well over a million. She was selling for 360,000 and the home was fully modernized and needed nothing.
According to the [source](https://www.statista.com/statistics/246355/home-ownership-rate-in-europe/) (Statista), countries with more mature rental markets such as France, Germany, The UK and Switzerland tended to have a lower homeownership rate compared to the frontier countries such as Lithuania or Slovakia
With population numbers rising across Europe, the need for affordable housing continues. In 2023, European countries completed between one and six housing units per 1,000 citizens, with Ireland, Poland, and Denmark responsible heading the ranking. One of the major challenges for supplying the market with more affordable homes is the rising construction costs. In 2021 and 2022, housing construction costs escalated dramatically due to soaring inflation, which has had a significant effect on new supply.
Furthermore, countries with lower houseownership rates tend to have higher house prices. In 2023, the average transaction price for a house was notably higher in Western Europe and Northern Europe than Eastern and Southern Europe.
Besides what others have said, it is also heavily influenced by government policy.
Denmark has more extensive and stronger rent controls than Norway, both for long and short term rental.
Norway, on the other hand tends to keep interest rates and housing cost relatively low for the purchased housing market.
Looking at these stats, Norway is the odd one out not only compared to its Scandinavian neighbours, but Western Europe in general.
The reason why Norway has such high home ownership rates is housing policy and culture. The government runs policies that reward home ownership (tax breaks on loans, the home you live in is valued at artificially low levels for the purpose of wealth tax, etc.), and culturally, it’s kind of expected for you to own your own place once you’ve gotten a stable job and settled down with a partner.
why stop the comparison at Norway? why not Albania?
Money within the family. Many first time buyers of appartments gets economical help from their parents. Norwegian parents (the generations today born in the 1960-70s) are are quite well of ( a type of a “golden generation” economically). This is at least the case in the big cities where much of first time home owners starts. This article tells that about [2/3](https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/l38QwA/to-av-tre-unge-faar-hjelp-av-foreldre-til-boligkjoep-i-oslo) of young people buying house in Oslo getting economical help from their parents. So without that help you might have had more of them having to rent/not buy. Hence homeownership not being that huge. You could just dream of parents born a generation earlier.. born in the 1930s/40s being able to help their children economically buying their first house/appartment.
smaller population, more land.
Dane here. I think then words “much better” are misleading here. It is different, but not that different.
I have tried both. Renting and owning. First renting as a student in a dormitory, about 1500 DKK per month, probably some 3000 NOK in 2024 money, then renting 80 m2 in the center of downtown Copenhagen. About 4000 DKK per month or probably 7000 NOK in todays money.
Both rentals were quite affordable and with virtually no maintenance cost and no tax. Also renting gave me maximum mobility freedom, I had the opportunity to just pack my stuff and travel with very short notice, which I did.
As a renter in Denmark you are very well protected against unreasonable prices or eviction. It is virtually impossible to raise the prices over market price and you can pretty much only evict people if they stop paying rent or if you decide to move in yourself. In the last case you have a very long notice period. Landlords can renovate to raise the rent, but I believe that is regulated as well.
The largest downside was missing out on the housing market boom at that time. Denmark has no sales tax on housing, so you can pocket 100% of the added value. The downside is a high yearly value tax. This is great for home owners when the rent is low and housing market is booming, but sucks if you own a more rural house, that may be falling in value or if you are retired and not planning on selling your house.
In politics the left wing will always defend renters interests and the right wing will defend home ownership, but there is no “much better” here, just difference.
Why does a higher ownership rate = better? I don’t get that.
Is the Albanian property market what the world is striving with its 96 % homeownership rate? Is the Swiss economy a catastrophe with its 42% homeownership rate?
More renters mean your work-force is more flexible to move around, there are probably also less NIMBY complaints and the health of economy is less vulnerable to trends in the property market.
In Denmark you can’t be thrown out of your rented apartment unless you mistreat it. That means you can build a life there just as if you owned it. In Norway renters have much less security so most people want to own.
Because in Norway people are obsessed with owning their place and many people look down at those who don’t own. The ugly truth
Because Norway is about 19% more social democratic compared to Denmark.
13 comments
Denmark has a more extensive public housing program, where you can rent apartments or housing fairly cheap.
Because most of Norway is sparsely populated leading to excess supply in some areas, homes and properties are often handed down, many homes and properties are run down and are sold for lower pricing when there aren’t catches like the home having negative value or farming being required.
There are lots of reasons, but most boil down to homes being handed down over generations and cheap supply in much of the country. Go to these places everyone think are the dream places they want to move to. Look at the cost of homes and be shocked, but they’re calling them “expensive”. I had a conversation with a woman selling her home near a major area of the north. In central Europe, it would be around 900,000 Euros or well over a million. She was selling for 360,000 and the home was fully modernized and needed nothing.
According to the [source](https://www.statista.com/statistics/246355/home-ownership-rate-in-europe/) (Statista), countries with more mature rental markets such as France, Germany, The UK and Switzerland tended to have a lower homeownership rate compared to the frontier countries such as Lithuania or Slovakia
With population numbers rising across Europe, the need for affordable housing continues. In 2023, European countries completed between one and six housing units per 1,000 citizens, with Ireland, Poland, and Denmark responsible heading the ranking. One of the major challenges for supplying the market with more affordable homes is the rising construction costs. In 2021 and 2022, housing construction costs escalated dramatically due to soaring inflation, which has had a significant effect on new supply.
Furthermore, countries with lower houseownership rates tend to have higher house prices. In 2023, the average transaction price for a house was notably higher in Western Europe and Northern Europe than Eastern and Southern Europe.
Besides what others have said, it is also heavily influenced by government policy.
Denmark has more extensive and stronger rent controls than Norway, both for long and short term rental.
Norway, on the other hand tends to keep interest rates and housing cost relatively low for the purchased housing market.
Looking at these stats, Norway is the odd one out not only compared to its Scandinavian neighbours, but Western Europe in general.
The reason why Norway has such high home ownership rates is housing policy and culture. The government runs policies that reward home ownership (tax breaks on loans, the home you live in is valued at artificially low levels for the purpose of wealth tax, etc.), and culturally, it’s kind of expected for you to own your own place once you’ve gotten a stable job and settled down with a partner.
why stop the comparison at Norway? why not Albania?
Money within the family. Many first time buyers of appartments gets economical help from their parents. Norwegian parents (the generations today born in the 1960-70s) are are quite well of ( a type of a “golden generation” economically). This is at least the case in the big cities where much of first time home owners starts. This article tells that about [2/3](https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/l38QwA/to-av-tre-unge-faar-hjelp-av-foreldre-til-boligkjoep-i-oslo) of young people buying house in Oslo getting economical help from their parents. So without that help you might have had more of them having to rent/not buy. Hence homeownership not being that huge. You could just dream of parents born a generation earlier.. born in the 1930s/40s being able to help their children economically buying their first house/appartment.
smaller population, more land.
Dane here. I think then words “much better” are misleading here. It is different, but not that different.
I have tried both. Renting and owning. First renting as a student in a dormitory, about 1500 DKK per month, probably some 3000 NOK in 2024 money, then renting 80 m2 in the center of downtown Copenhagen. About 4000 DKK per month or probably 7000 NOK in todays money.
Both rentals were quite affordable and with virtually no maintenance cost and no tax. Also renting gave me maximum mobility freedom, I had the opportunity to just pack my stuff and travel with very short notice, which I did.
As a renter in Denmark you are very well protected against unreasonable prices or eviction. It is virtually impossible to raise the prices over market price and you can pretty much only evict people if they stop paying rent or if you decide to move in yourself. In the last case you have a very long notice period. Landlords can renovate to raise the rent, but I believe that is regulated as well.
The largest downside was missing out on the housing market boom at that time. Denmark has no sales tax on housing, so you can pocket 100% of the added value. The downside is a high yearly value tax. This is great for home owners when the rent is low and housing market is booming, but sucks if you own a more rural house, that may be falling in value or if you are retired and not planning on selling your house.
In politics the left wing will always defend renters interests and the right wing will defend home ownership, but there is no “much better” here, just difference.
Why does a higher ownership rate = better? I don’t get that.
Is the Albanian property market what the world is striving with its 96 % homeownership rate? Is the Swiss economy a catastrophe with its 42% homeownership rate?
More renters mean your work-force is more flexible to move around, there are probably also less NIMBY complaints and the health of economy is less vulnerable to trends in the property market.
In Denmark you can’t be thrown out of your rented apartment unless you mistreat it. That means you can build a life there just as if you owned it. In Norway renters have much less security so most people want to own.
Because in Norway people are obsessed with owning their place and many people look down at those who don’t own. The ugly truth
Because Norway is about 19% more social democratic compared to Denmark.
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