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The cost of living in your municipality

Stokka Eiganes Byas touristsOld Town of Stavanger. Photo: Norway Today Media / Pieter Wijnen

Check out the cost of living in Norwegian municipalities

Using the calculator on the Norwegian Homeowners website, you can easily review and compare the municipal fees and property taxes in all the municipalities in Norway at a glance. In short the basic cost of living in Norway.

 

Municipal fees can not be avoided by anybody, but the amount varies a lot from one place to the other.

Hægebostad municipality in West Agder is at the top with NOK 20,850 in fees for water, sewage, renovation and street sweeping, while the inhabitants of Årdal municipality in Sogn og Fjordane gets away with NOK 6,050.

The same applies to property tax, 290 of 422 municipalities have this tax on housing. The difference in the cost of this is likewise large between municipalities.

The inhabitants of Karlsøy in Troms pay a staggering NOK 9,360 in property tax, on top of municipal fees. 132 municipalities are devoid of property taxes for the time being.

Municipal fees continue to rise far more than the average price index, and in the past ten years, the number of municipalities who demand a property tax on homes has doubled.

If you are curious about your municipality’s situation, read the entire report here, or try the Norwegian Homeowners’ calculator.

Differences are large in cost of living

There was a lot of trouble about the introduction of property tax in Oslo, but the municipality is far from the most expensive place to live in that regard. NOK 10,708 has to be forked out in municipal fees and NOK 2,600 in property tax in Oslo, adding up to NOK 13,308 all in all.

Gjerstad municipality in East Agder by comparison has NOK 25,277 in combined taxes and fees for 2018, of which NOK 19,285 are municipal fees. They are Norway’s most expensive in regards of municipality costs.

– When the municipality of Gjerstad demands more than NOK 25,000 a year for a standard household in property tax and municipal fees, it is very expensive and makes a large dent in the family economy, says Secretary General of the Homeowners Association, Morten Andreas Meyer.

– The municipal fees increase far faster than the consumer price index. It is about time that the municipalities start to compare with each other, and that demands are made for increased efficiency, in order to limit the rabid growth in fees, he goes on to say.

The cheapest municipality is Sørreisa in Troms, where the residents gets away with a total of NOK 7,315. The reason is, of course, that they do not have property taxes.

– The difference between the most expensive and cheapest municipality is NOK 17,962. There are both unreasonable and incomprehensible differences between municipalities. Now politicians both locally and nationally must start to care. Today’s system where the bills caused by ineffectiveness are shouldered by inhabitants can not continue, Meyer continues.

Taxes and fees In Bergen, as an example, amounts to NOK 16,008 in 2018, of which NOK 7,500 is property tax and NOK 8,508 are municipal fees.

In Trondheim, NOK 4,961 is paid in property taxes and NOK 8.228 in municipal fees, NOK 13,189 in total. Stavanger is let off the hook with “a mere” NOK 11,099 in total, of which NOK 3,378 is property tax and NOK 7,721 are fees.

Everything is available using the calculator

All figures are retrieved using the Homeowners‘ updated calculator, which is based on recent figures from Statistics Norway (SSB). The figures quite simply show what it costs to be a home owner in Norway’s currently 422 municipalities.

The material is based on figures supplied by the municipalities, and applies to a standard housing of 120 square meters.

In 2007, only 142 of the county’s municipalities had a property tax on housing, presently it stands at 290. Municipalities’ income from property tax on housing and cabins has tripled to NOK 7.1 billion in the same period.

– The municipalities that issue the largest bills now need to figure out how to improve their operation and thereby reduce the cost for their residents. Owning your own home is a basic welfare asset, and eight out of ten Norwegians do so. The fact that property taxes are running rampant threatens the Norwegian housing model, where self-ownership is at the core, Meyer concludes.

The 10 most expensive municipalities overall

  1. Gjerstad 25,277
  2. Hjartdal 25,268
  3. Flakstad 24,811
  4. Gjemnes 23,965
  5. Nord- Aurdal 23,948
  6. Sauherad 23,825
  7. Granvin 23,590
  8. Nordre Land 23,439
  9. Ullensvang 23,276
  10. Naustdal 22,941

The 10 relatively cheapest municipalities overall

  1. Sørreisa 7,315
  2. Sola 7,376
  3. Hå 8,223
  4. Sandnes 8,359
  5. Lødingen 8,782
  6. Vinje 8,787
  7. Stordal 8,791
  8. Sandefjord 8,875
  9. Lyngdal 8,911
  10. Aure 8,953

The municipalities with the highest property tax

  1. Karlsøy 9,360
  2. Naustdal 9,270
  3. Bodø 8,722
  4. Alstahaug 8,708
  5. Brønnøy 8,050
  6. Sør – Varanger 7,997
  7. Lillehammer 7,980
  8. Skaun 7,920
  9. Målselv 7,700
  10. Hamar 7,599

The municipalities with the highest communal fees

  1. Hægebostad 20,850
  2. Engerdal 20,778
  3. Hjartdal 20,564
  4. Nordre Land 20,189
  5. Drangedal 20,135
  6. Søndre Land 20,021
  7. Dyrøy 19,964
  8. Høylandet 19,920
  9. Rendalen 19,386
  10. Gjerstad 19,285

 

© Huseierne / #Norway Today