– Nowhere in the Budget – VG

The rental market may get tougher at the same time as more new students move to study cities this fall.

Eiendom Norge believes that higher demand and less supply in the rental housing market will cause rental prices to rise.

We expect there to be a bigger price increase in the rental market than we’ve seen, says CEO Henning Lauridsen.

It will be noticed on many student wallets. Student organization housing covers only about 15 percent of students. The rest must be rented on the private market, live in the house or have their own home.

Rental rates have gone up 1.6 percent in the four largest cities In the first quarter of 2022. Eiendom Norge expects a larger price increase in the rental market than we’ve seen for some time when statistics on rental property prices for the second quarter are presented at the beginning of August.

expect more future interest rates, It can affect the students by increasing the rent.

Three things increase stress

According to Laurissen, the situation in the rental market is characterized by three factors.

lists:

• Students are returning to campus after the pandemic, which is increasing as the demand for housing increases.
• Figures from Statistics Norway showed strong population growth due to labor migration in the first quarter. Both students and working immigrants largely demand rental housing.
• Many landlords have chosen to sell their rental homes during the pandemic due to the weak rental market.

In short, this has led to a lower than usual supply of rental housing at the same time that demand is rising. He says this situation may continue for a while.

There is no room for a price increase

Norwegian Students Organization (NSO) leader Tuva Todnem Lund is concerned about the development in the rental market, which is happening at the same time that most other things are also rising in prices.

– There is no place for this in the Norwegian students’ budget today, Lund tells VG.

According to calculations by NSO, students lose just over 5,500 NOK each month if they are only going to survive on student assistance. It is 66,000 kroner per year, which must be covered in other ways.

“Rising rent prices, increasing food prices, everything else getting more expensive, it’s going to be more of a deficit that we have to finance somehow,” Lund says.

As VG previously wrote, most people receive financial help from parents or use savings. More and more people are using credit cards or taking out consumer loans to make ends meet.

This can reduce inflation

According to Lund, the bulk of student support for most students goes to paying rent.

Lauridsen from Eiendom Norge points out that students have a limited opportunity to pay more rent in the future. This may reduce inflation somewhat.

Since the ability to pay more is limited for many renters, this will affect how much rental prices go up, says Lauridsen.

Student support will not be increased

On Tuesday, it was announced that the government and the SV had agreed on the revised national budget. They do not make any adjustments to the student scholarship, which is set at NOK 128,887 the next academic year. This is a 2 percent increase over the previous year. At the same time, the CPI rose by 5.7 percent from May 2021 to May 2022.

The parties say they are interested in reducing disputes and improving people’s daily lives. Here they have deliberately chosen not to prioritize students. Another year we will lose purchasing power, NSO President writes to VG after submitting the budget.

– I will not hide that I am very frustrated and very concerned about what the parties want with higher education and students in Norway. How can SV guarantee this?

SV – Freddy André Øvstegård, a parliament representative for the Socialist Left Party, said the party had struggled hard to increase student support.

– But the Labor Party and the Center Party did not hear it. He says we are disappointed with the government.

Øvstegård says the party will continue to fight for increased student support in the future.

Labor and the Center Party must answer why they are staunch opponents of more student money. For SV, it is incomprehensible. Students should have time for their studies, even those who do not have rich parents. Increased support is an investment in both equal opportunity in higher education and more implementation with better results.