This is why we blog

Property profit record

Aftenposten - Property prices in Oslo continue upwards, and there seem to be few barriers for eager buyers - who don't wait for attractive homes to go on sale.

According to newspaper Finansavisen a 260 square meter (2800 square feet) apartment in the exclusive Frogner district of Oslo was sold for NOK 26.5 million (USD 4.4 million), despite not being on the market.

The flat, which is on the top two floors of an elegant property and includes a large roof terrace, was sold after a broker approached the owner on behalf of a client willing to pay a premium.

The sale translates to a price of NOK 100,000 per square meter (USD 1,550 per square foot). The seller bought the home in 1997 for NOK 8 million, and Finansavisen calls the transaction the most profitable apartment sale in Norwegian history.

This story was run May 9th in Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper. The story in my previous post ran May 8th.
So…which is it Aftenposten, are housing prices going up, or are housing prices going down?

I have noticed this kind of inconsistency before with news in Norway. Does it have anything to do with socialism? Probably not. I have noticed similar incongruities in U.S. news reporting. It only highlights the fact that accurate news stories are hard to come by.
This is why we blog.

It used to be that we only had a handful of media outlets to spoon us out a version of the news, kind of like fascism, what they want to tell us and when they want to tell it. Times have changed. The days of monopolized media reporting are over. So until bad men show up and take away my keyboard, I will continue to point you to the news between the lines.
Vern