Since last spring, the number of Norwegians who are willing to fork out for a holiday home in Norway almost doubled.
In the spring of 2015 60,000 who wanted to purchase a cottage in the country, a figure that rose to 90,000 in September, and now has increased to 113,000, according to the newspaper Bergens Tidende. The figures are from the survey Holiday Home analysis, made by the Prognosis center.
– We see the greatest increase in purchases of holiday homes for people under 40 years of age, a lot of them living in city apartment blocks, partner Bjorn Erik Øye in Prognosesenteret says.
And precisely the fact that the most ardent cottage buyers live in city blocks, may be an important point, because Øye thinks a high degree of urbanization is associated with a desire to buy a cottage.
– In cities like Bergen and Stavanger the urbanization rate is at around 80 percent. Just a few decades ago the figure was around 50. We live in closer quarters than we used to, and the growth has been fast. The cottage is a kind of substitute for the detached house that many people will never be able to afford, he said. Low interest rates also means that the dream of a cottage is economically achievable for more people.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
