Purchasing a house or apartment is usually the highest value purchase one can make in life. However, with such large figures involved when buying a house, it is easy to overlook some of the more hidden but still pricey costs that you’ll have to cover to make a house your home. 

Below, we’ve listed the most important you need to know about. Some of the costs you’ll need to pay every month when you purchase a home, others can put a serious dent in your budget- or jeopardise the purchase if you overlook them. 

Fellesgjeld

Many homes in Norway, especially apartments in Oslo, belong to a housing association or borettslag. A housing association in Norway is a legal entity similar to a company or business, where buyers purchase a share and get the exclusive right to live in a property within a block. 

That’s because you buy into the housing association rather than the property itself. But, much like a company, housing associations also have overheads and debts. 

Fellesgjeld is the shared or collective debt of the association. The joint debt includes original building costs and renovation works, such as a new roof that have taken place. The instalments and interests are paid monthly. So when buying into a housing association, you will need to consider the joint debt payments as part of the price. 

READ MORE: The key things you need to know about Norwegian housing associations

Felleskostnader

Felleskostnader is the shared monthly repayments on the collective debt that residents of housing associations pay. However, there are a number of other costs included in these monthly repayments, such as municipal fees, porter services, cleaning communal areas and building insurance. 

One more thing to note is that you will need to pay municipal fees wherever you decide to call home. 

Renovation costs 

Fixer-uppers may seem like the best way to grab a bargain, but beware, renovating certain rooms in Norwegian homes can cost an absolute fortune. 

Bathrooms and kitchens in Norway need to have the work signed off by the municipality and be completed by a qualified tradesman- this means you’ll likely need to get the professionals in. Bathrooms, as an example, cost an eye-watering amount to have renovated: between 200,000-300,000 kroner, due to the requirement for them to be done to wet-room standard. 

Dokumentavgift

This is a not-so-hidden cost as plenty of countries have stamp duty. When you buy a freehold property (one that isn’t part of a housing association), you will need to pay 2.5 percent of the purchase price to the state. However, homes in housing associations are exempt from this.  

Banks rarely offer additional financing for stamp duty, so it’s worth taking this cost into account when purchasing the home. For example, a house with a sale price of four million kroner will cost 100,000 kroner in stamp duty- so always save a little bit of budget left over to cover this cost. 

Tinglysingsgebyr

You will also need to pay a land registration fee when purchasing a property. When submitting this online, it will cost 540 kroner. If you prefer not to do things digitally, then you can expect to pay 585 kroner to file the paper form. 

The fee for buying into a housing association is slightly cheaper. Following the land registration, you will need to pay the stamp duty. 

Getting drawn into a bidding war

Plenty of homes in Norway have an asking price where bids will begin rather than a set cost.

When buying a home, the true cost will likely be significantly above the asking price. Getting drawn into a bidding war can increase the price of a house significantly. 

Bids in Norway are more or less legally binding. If you bid outside your means, you could find yourself in trouble. 

To avoid getting pulled into a bidding war, you should consider purchasing a new build- which are sold for a set fee. 

READ ALSO: Six key tips to survive the bidding war when buying a house in Norway