How to buy a cabin or farm in Norway

Or at least get the chance to buy one

We moved to Norway in 2020. Living in the family cabin was delightful but felt like a burden. In October of the same year, the hunt for a cabin with large property or a small farm began.

PS: You will find two detailed videos with real-life experiences in the end.

The housing market in Norway

Before you start thinking about moving to Norway and buying yourself a neat place, you have to understand/know a few things.

The main property market is on Finn.no, a listing page like craigslist that is used by real estate agents.

If you’re up for a cabin or farm, you search for “hytte” or “småbruk”. There are a few more websites to buy a farm, but the main action is on Finn.

Bidding Rounds, here we come

Nearly every object ends up being auctioned. No fixed prices if there is more than one person interested. The bids aren’t confidential either.

If you check the Finn ad for your property, you will find the house showing date. People attend, make themselves a picture, and go home. By signing up for the showing, you’re often simultaneously signing up for the bidding round.

In Norway, everything is connected to your birth number. That’s what you sign up with. You also state your telephone number as the bidding works via SMS. It continues on until the highest price is reached. That is emotional.

Normally, the bidding starts the day after the showing.

If you made the highest bid, the seller still has to accept it. If he/she does, congratulations, you bought a home.

Cabin or farm

Cabins generally have a small plot and are often situated within designated cabin fields. You can find examples with more land attached, but the average is around 500–2000 m2.

Småbruks (Small farms) often have more land attached. If the previous buyer wasn’t a big farmer that stripped it from its property, the range goes from 15.000–500.000 m2.

In both cases, city distance is exponentially related to price. The higher north you go in Norway, the cheaper (and colder/darker) it gets.

The main difference is that there are more cabins than are demanded while it’s the opposite for small farms.

On a note, the great farms are given on or sold to family/friends. The rest goes to Finn. If you want a pearl, you better start networking. Everything you can get your hands on off the public market will make your life better.

Frustration

We’ve been on it for two years now and had barely a chance with a limited budget. But we learned a lot. So here are two videos with much deeper insights into the buying process.