Norway Poised to Relax Rules to Fight House Price Deflation | North Salem Homes

Norway is moving closer to easing mortgage lending standards as the nation’s deflating property market prompts concern among lawmakers that existing regulations are too tight.

Real estate prices, which have doubled over the past decade and touched a record high this year, are now dropping faster than the central bank had predicted. The Conservative-led government, which won power in September, says it’s now looking into raising the amount banks can lend to borrowers to 90 percent of a property’s value, from 85 percent previously, in an effort to support first-time buyers.

A New Residential Development in Oslo

A New Residential Development in Oslo
Norway’s housing market, which Nobel laureate Robert Shiller already in 2012 said was in a bubble, has been inflated by a period of record-low interest rates that fueled a borrowing spree in Scandinavia’s richest nation and left Norwegians more indebted than ever before.
 

Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Nov. 8 her government is ready to cut its budget proposal should the exchange rate prove too strong for exporters to stay competitive. She spoke in Oslo with Bloomberg's Saleha Mohsin. (Source: Bloomberg) 

Real Estate Office Window in Oslo

Real Estate Office Window in Oslo
An estate agent arranges a sign indicating a residential apartment is sold in the window of the Krogsveen real estate office in Oslo. Photographer: Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg
 
“Norwegian banks are already in a good position,” Hans Olav Syversen, the head of the parliamentary finance committee in Oslo and a member of the Christian Democrat party that the government relies on to rule, said in a Nov. 21 interview.“We’re asking for a more flexible rule. A 10 percent down-payment should be enough if banks take into account individuals and their own ability to pay their debts."

Norway’s housing market, which Nobel laureate Robert Shiller already in 2012 said was in a bubble, has been inflated by a period of record-low interest rates that fueled a borrowing spree in Scandinavia’s richest nation and left Norwegians more indebted than ever before. Households now owe about twice their disposable incomes to their creditors, a level the central bank and the financial regulator have warned is unsustainable.




http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-24/

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