Holiday house areas, 2011

By size of holiday house area, the scattered holiday house group makes up the largest area, with 251 km2. The next largest group is made up of the small holiday house areas, consisting of 5-24 holiday houses, with 156 km2, or 28 per cent of the total holiday house area. The combined area of scattered and small holiday house areas constitutes 73 per cent of the total holiday house area.

The smallest group is made up of the medium-sized areas, consisting of 25-49 holiday houses. These cover just 56 km2; equivalent to 10 per cent of the total holiday house area. The large areas, which consist of more than 50 holiday houses, make up 96 km2 of the total holiday house area, which corresponds to 17 per cent.

Oppland has the most area of holiday house areas in total

All counties have holiday house areas, but Oppland has as much as 71 km2, and Buskerud 67 km2. In total, Oppland and Buskerud have 25 per cent of the total amount of holiday house area in Norway. It is the scattered holiday house areas that dominate in both of these counties, as is also the case for Norway as a whole, while large holiday house areas make up by far the smallest area among the different size categories.

By comparison, Oslo has only 2 km2, and Finnmark 9 km2. Finnmark is the only county that has no large holiday house areas. The total area of large holiday house areas in Hedmark, however, is the largest, with around 16 km2 distributed over 62 areas.

All municipalities have scattered holiday house areas – but not large holiday house areas

All municipalities have holiday house areas, but many only have scattered and small holiday house areas. About 30 per cent of the municipalities have one or more large holiday house areas.

Ringsaker and Trysil municipalities have the most areas of holiday house areas, with 11 and 10 km2 respectively, followed by Hvaler and Sigdal with 9 km2 each.

Localisation of holiday houses reflects size category

In total, there are 421 584 holiday houses in holiday house areas or scattered holiday house areas, and the location of the holiday houses is reflected in the size categories that dominate. The largest share of holiday houses is found within the category of scattered holiday house areas, making up almost 60 per cent of the total number of holiday houses. The medium-sized holiday house areas have the fewest holiday houses, and constitute just 7 per cent of all holiday houses.

Oppland and Buskerud are among the counties with the most holiday houses, with about 46 000 and 43 000 respectively, which corresponds to 21 per cent of the total number of holiday houses. Oslo has the least holiday houses, with around 2 000, and Sogn- og Fjordane and Finnmark have approximately 11 500 holiday houses respectively.

Among the municipalities, Ringsaker and Trysil have the most holiday houses, with about 6 300 and 6 000 respectively, and also have the most area of holiday house areas in total. Askim and Lørnskog, on the other hand, have fewest holiday houses, with just over 20 each.

Chalets and summerhouses dominate

Among the different building types, it is chalets and summerhouses that dominate, making up 94 per cent of the total number of holiday houses. All counties and municipalities have one or more of these types of holiday houses, but not all of them have detached houses used as a holiday house or farmhouses used as a holiday house.

With the exception of Oslo, which does not have any detached houses used as a holiday house, all counties have all three types of holiday houses. All municipalities have chalets and summerhouses, but only some of them have the other two types of holiday houses.