Building stock

Building

As a main rule, freestanding building units are to be given a unique building number. Combined units can be assigned individual building numbers when the building parts can be torn down independent of each other.

Row houses in which each dwelling unit lies on the ground are assigned one building number for each dwelling. Vertically divided semi-detached houses in which the housing units are equal shall be given one building number for each unit. On the other hand, horizontally divided semi-detached homes, four-unit houses and larger residential buildings in which the housing units lie on top of each other are assigned one building number for the entire building.

Type of building

The building type is established according to the function of the building. Combined buildings, for instance combined dwelling and business buildings, are classified by the function that occupies the main part of the utility floor space. The building types in the dwelling statistics is aggregated from the detailed classification in the Cadastre.

Name: Building stock
Topic: Construction, housing and property

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

Municipal level, county level and national level.

Annually.

Numbers are normally published in February.

Not relevant.

Collected and revised data are stored securely by Statistics Norway in compliance with applicable legislation on data processing.

Statistics Norway can grant access to the source data (de-identified or anonymised microdata) on which the statistics are based, for researchers and public authorities for the purposes of preparing statistical results and analyses. Access can be granted upon application and subject to conditions. Refer to the details about this at Access to data from Statistics Norway.

The purpose of the statistics is to provide an overview of the number of buildings in Norway, broken down by type of building and counties/municipalities. The statistics have been published since 1997.

Users of the statistics include the municipalities, the building and construction industry and various organizations and institutions.

No external users have access to statistics before they are released at 8 a.m. on ssb.no after at least three months’ advance notice in the release calendar. This is one of the most important principles in Statistics Norway for ensuring the equal treatment of users.

The statistics of buildings gives an overview over the number of buildings in Norway, while the register based Dwelling statistics gives figures on the number of dwelling units in these buildings. One building can often contains two or more dwelling units.

The statistics are developed, produced and disseminated pursuant to Act no. 32 of 21 June 2019 relating to official statistics and Statistics Norway (the Statistics Act).

Not relevant.

The statistics include all main buildings (no extensions) which have been started or completed and have not been reported demolished, burned or eliminated some other way. The observation unit is building.

The statistics on the building stock are based on data from the Ground Parcel, Address and Building Register(Matrikkelen). The owner of the register is the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, with the Norwegian Mapping Authority professionally responsible. This register contains all buildings in Norway subsequent to the completion of the MABYGG project.

Complete census.

Until 2005 Statistics Norway received Excel files from the Norwegian Mapping Authority, based on transcripts from the Cadastre (Matrikkelen). From 2006 the statistics is based on Statistics Norway own statistical version of the Cadastre, the Register of Ground Parcels, Addresses, Buildings and Dwellings (SSB-Matrikkelen).

The number of buildings broken down by municipality and main groups of building types is compared with the year before. In the event of major changes from the year before the Norwegian Mapping Authority or the municipality is contacted for explanation.

Totals are calculated by summation.

Not relevant.

Employees of Statistics Norway have a duty of confidentiality.

Statistics Norway does not publish figures if there is a risk of the respondent’s contribution being identified. This means that, as a general rule, figures are not published if fewer than three units form the basis of a cell in a table or if the contribution of one or two respondents constitutes a very large part of the cell total.

Statistics Norway can make exceptions to the general rule if deemed necessary to meet the requirements of the EEA agreement, if the respondent is a public authority, if the respondent has consented to this, or when the information disclosed is openly accessible to the public.

More information can be found on Statistics Norway’s website under Methods in official statistics, in the ‘Confidentiality’ section.

More municipalities are cleaning up their registers. As a result, buildings that were not classified the previous year may have been assigned their correct building type the year after. A number of buildings that were incorrectly classified the previous year may have been assigned the correct building type code the next year. The number of registered buildings in the municipalities may also change from year to year because of the clean up.

From 2007 the building types “Detached houses used as holiday houses" and “Farmhouses used as holiday houses" are added into the table containing holiday houses by county.

From 2008 Svalbard is included in the statistics. The figures only include the building stock in Longyearbyen, while other areas at Svalbard are not included in the statistics. This is because only buildings in Longyearbyen is registered in Matrikkelen.

From 2022 the building stock includes completed buildings that are exempt from applying for a building permit, but must be notified and registered in Matrikkelen. As of 01.01.2022 there are 21 281 of these buildings, and over 90% of them are garages/annexes adjacent to dwellings/holiday houses.

There is a possibility that the municipalities make mistakes in registering data in Matrikkelen. In some cases the forms are filled in incorrectly. There are also some municipalities that for various reasons do not always follow the current registration rules for Matrikkelen. Buildings may be incorrectly classified, i.e. that a building has been assigned a different type of building in the register than it should have. The statistics can also include buildings that are torn down, burnt down or otherwise non-existing, if not reported to the municipality.

Not relevant.