– I could very well sell it today for my part, says Kevin Holgersen from Haugesund. He and his wife Eli have been trying to sell their cabin at Rauland in Vinje for almost half a year. It was taken off the market this summer and put up again recently. They are not surprised that it takes a long time. Eli and Kevin Holgersen on a summit trip with their children Sofie and Mathea. Photo: Private – It’s perfectly fine. Times are different now. After speaking with the broker, I have understood that it takes longer than during the pandemic. But then it was abnormally good, he says. The couple would of course like to have completed the sale of the cottage. – Once you have decided to sell, it is good to get it done, says Holgersen. – Takes longer to sell Last year real estate agent at DNB Eiendom, Jeanette Arnesen-Eriksrød, had her best year ever. This year the situation is completely different. – It is a tougher market, there is no doubt about that, she says. Arnesen-Eriksrød mainly sells cabins in the Rauland area in Vinje in Telemark. So far this year, 112 holiday properties have been sold in what is Norway’s fourth largest cottage municipality. There are 56.4 per cent fewer sales compared to the same time last year, according to figures the broker has obtained from Eiendomsverdi AS. Estate agent at DNB Eiendom, Jeanette Arnesen-Eriksrød. She notices that the sale of cabins is going slower and says that it is a tougher market now. Photo: Privat – The buyers will probably be sitting on the fence and wait a bit to see what happens, says the estate agent. She believes high electricity prices, rising interest rates and general economic uncertainty are the cause of the congestion in the market. In a normal market, it has taken an average of 90 to 110 days to sell a holiday home, says the broker. Now sellers have to be more patient. – It takes longer to sell. It is more difficult, but the joy is even greater when you manage to find the buyer’s dream cabin. The living room in Eli and Kevin Holgersen’s cabin. Photo: Invisio/Luke Tennant The estate agent emphasizes that 2020 and 2021 were years that deviated from the norm. But compared to cabin sales before the pandemic, there is also markedly lower turnover. In the municipality where she sells cabins, 35 per cent fewer leisure properties have been sold this year, compared to 2019. – New sales plunge Senior analyst at the Prognosesenteret, Bjørn-Erik Øye, sees that the market has turned. There are local variations, but the tendency is the same across the country. Over the past year, the turnover of cabins has fallen month by month. – In the last six months, turnover has stabilized at around 30 per cent lower. New sales plummet. There it has decreased by more than 50 per cent, he says. Senior analyst in the Forecast Center, Bjørn-Erik Øye. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news Øye believes the cottage market is now close to the level before the pandemic. Then there were low interest rates, pent-up demand and closed borders, which led to Norwegians holidaying at home. There is still a lot of construction activity in the mountain home, but Øye predicts that some craftsmen will notice that the order books thin out over the winter. Finn: Low interest When the autumn holidays approach, Finn.no usually notices an increased interest in buying cabins in the mountains. After the summer, interest in mountain cabins has fallen sharply. According to Finn, there are 40 per cent fewer visits to the adverts in the “Holiday home for sale” category, compared to the same period last year. Last week there were 500 more mountain cabins for sale than at the same time last year. – Now there is tension about how this market will cope with higher loan interest rates and electricity costs in the run-up to winter, says manager of Finn eiendom, Jørgen Hellestveit.
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Fewer people want a cabin – here sales have halved in a year – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
