Homes
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Homes
Homes
There are between 2.7 and 3 million homes in Norway. Roughly half of them are detached houses. In big cities like Oslo, many housing units are in blocks of flats. In small municipalities, most homes are detached houses. Around 82 per cent of households own their own home, while the remaining 18 per cent rent their home.
- Owner-occupied dwelling: You own your home. You can do it up and rent it out without having to ask anyone. You pay all the expenses in connection with your home (municipal taxes, home insurance and maintenance costs). You finance the purchase of the home yourself.
- Housing cooperative: You own a share in a housing cooperative. You have an exclusive right to use the home. You must comply with the housing cooperative’s rules and statutes. You pay a deposit when you buy the apartment, which you finance yourself. You also pay rent every month. The rent covers your share of the housing cooperative’s joint debt, municipal taxes and home insurance.
Financing
Buying a home costs a lot of money, and most people borrow money from the bank. People usually pay back the loan every month for many years. We can’t borrow the entire purchase price from the bank. We also need to have some money ourselves. This is called own funds. The main rule is that we must have saved 15 per cent of the purchase price ourselves. We can then borrow 85 per cent of the purchase price from the bank. People must however have regular income or other financial security to be allowed to borrow money from the bank. The bank must be sure that people are able to pay instalments and interest.
Talk together
- Talk about the advantages and disadvantages of owning or renting your home.
- Talk about the differences between owner-occupied homes and homes in housing cooperatives.
- What do you think about borrowing money from the bank? What does it involve?
- You can go to finn.no or another website and look at the properties for sale in the area where you live. What kind of properties do you see? What do they cost?
Select the right answer
How many homes are there in Norway?
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Which kind of home is characterised by
- having an exclusive right to use your home
- complying with rules and statutes
- paying a deposit when you buy an apartment
- paying rent every month
Select the right answer
How much of the purchase price do we need to have saved ourselves when we are going to buy a home? How much can we borrow from the bank?
Select the right answer
What characterises an owner-occupied dwelling?
Select right or wrong
Read the statements. What is right? What is wrong?