Interest and housing | Selling a dream house: – You want to live instead of live

In the summer of 2022, Trine-Lise Kanebog and Glenn Kanebog moved with their two daughters into their dream home in Harstad.

And now they have put the house up for sale. Suddenly, the price of electricity rose, which is unusual for northern Norway, municipal taxes rose, and interest rates skyrocketed. In other words, as with many others, costs increased on several fronts at the same time.

– We will not say that it came like lightning from the blue, but we were a little affected by it. The sum of these costs means that as a family we sit down and discuss what is important to us.

– Even though we all loved the house, we ended up selling. We chose to live rather than survive, the couple tells Netavisin.

custom House

The family built their first house from 2014 to 2016 in a residential area close to the house they live in now. It was a prefabricated home, where they couldn’t make many choices without it being too expensive.

– Even though we were satisfied with the house, we still saw that there were things missing. In 2018, we decided to purchase new land to build a new house based on our experiences.

They tried to install a catalog house on the lot, but due to the layout of the lot, it became difficult.

-My wife ended up spending over a year drawing the house herself with the help of an architect. “We ended up with a dream home, to say the least,” says Glenn.

They got the floor plan the way they wanted it, plus small details like placement of plugs. The house is designed to have everything on one level. The lower level is dedicated to the children, and has two identical bedrooms, a separate walk-in closet, a large bathroom, and a separate TV room. The main floor is divided into two areas, with a master bedroom with a walk-in closet, en-suite bathroom and an office. The other side is dedicated to living, with hall, living room, kitchen, utility room, utility room and laundry room.

-The house has turned out absolutely wonderful.

Cost increase

When the family moved in in the summer of 2022, there were no challenges regarding the cost level.

-We both have good jobs, so we didn’t notice it much. It was possible for us to still be able to do what we love most: eat well and go on vacations with our children despite the rising cost of loans.

At some point, costs crossed the threshold. As Canibog mentioned earlier in the article, factors like electricity rates, food prices, municipal taxes and interest rates are what caused them to hit the bottom line.

– Strictly speaking, we shouldn’t be selling out, but when you remember the time we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Kingston, Jamaica, or docked on a cruise ship in Cozumel, Mexico, or took a three-week road trip up the west coast of the U.S. American or we celebrated it on May 17 in Portugal, these are the types of things we want to continue with.

He says the option to sell wasn’t that difficult. The daughters, who are 12 and 15 years old respectively, are very interested in travel, and the parents will continue to take them on trips.

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– What costs had the greatest impact?

-Basically, all costs gradually increased, but the interest rate had the most impact due to the relatively high loan. It’s normal to notice electricity prices because we belong to a different group than the rest of Norway, and we usually don’t follow prices otherwise.

The house is now for sale, and the first inspection is Thursday. According to Kanbug, statistics show over 10,000 clicks on the ad.

We do not look at this process as selling a house, but rather as a change in lifestyle. We make many changes in the same shot to really enjoy what we like best.

The family changes housing, car and diet. They want more emphasis on physical activity and more time to travel.

– The difficult challenge in recent years

Magne Gundersen, a consumer economist at Sparebank 1, tells Nettavisen that he was pleasantly surprised by how most Norwegians dealt with the cost increases.

– It’s been a really tough challenge in the last couple of years, as things have become more expensive, wages haven’t continued to rise, and interest rate increases come on top of all that. For the most part, he says, Norwegians have met this challenge very well.

A survey conducted by Respons Analyze for Sparebank 1, with a sample of 1,040 people, showed that just over half of those with a mortgage would have to take some action if their mortgage interest rate rose further.

Among the alternatives, they answer that they should reduce consumption, that they should plan purchases and finances better, shop for cheaper food, waste less, save less/stop saving, and postpone or give up major purchases.

-It’s easy to spend money when you have good advice. It is very difficult to get used to spending less, as the vast majority of the Norwegian population has done in recent years.

Gundersen has been saying for months that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

– It will be difficult for a while. If you think it’s tight now, at least it will be so in the future.

He stresses that there are more vulnerable people in the population who are really suffering from higher costs, but for a family of two working people, most of them are dealing with lower consumption and simple measures.

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It keeps the interest rate constant

An interest rate meeting will be held on Thursday at Norges Bank. The Monetary Policy Report is also presented, which is published four times a year. This contains the central bank’s analysis of market conditions, and the bank’s strategy going forward.

DNB’s chief economist, Kirsti Hoogland, told Nettavisen that they expect Norges Bank to keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday, and that they are content to keep the door slightly open for rate hikes.

One of the important reasons is the international background, which has changed a lot since the September meeting.

She says 2023 was the year in which consumers saw a clear decline in their purchasing power.

This is a result of a combination of high inflation and a sharp rise in interest rates. I think the interest rate will remain at the current level for some time, perhaps until December 2024. But with low inflation and continued high wage growth, unlike in 2023, household purchasing power is likely to rise.