Oslo mixed-use buildings: how much weight should we give reserves?

H

HugoYork

Property investor
Established
I have been comparing a small sample of Oslo mixed-use buildings priced from NOK 11,640,000 to NOK 17,460,000. The snapshot shows price movement of +4.6% and median marketing time near 29 days, although differences in condition make the average quite noisy.

Our dilemma is how to treat building reserves. Do buyers normally price an apparent shortfall into their offer, or is weak reserve funding enough to make them move to another listing? The citywide figures are not helping because we are focused on two neighbourhoods with quite different stock.
 
I would not treat reserves as a simple pass/fail item. Translate the shortfall into likely near-term work, then reflect that cost and uncertainty in the offer. If the available information does not let you estimate either, walking away is reasonable.

One important detail: are you considering the whole building, or an interest within a jointly owned building? “Reserves” can mean something quite different in those two situations.
 
Recent completed sales in the same streets would tell you more than the +4.6% headline. I would compare condition, commercial versus residential mix, and any known work rather than just floor area and asking price.

Also, does the 29-day figure include withdrawn properties? A listing removed and later returned can make marketing time look healthier than the actual buyer response.
 
Another missing piece is new-listing volume. Twenty-nine days means one thing when buyers have several comparable alternatives arriving each week and another when suitable mixed-use stock is scarce. How tightly have you drawn the two neighbourhood boundaries? Crossing one main road or transport line may be enough to distort a small sample.
 
I partly disagree that buyers will explicitly negotiate “on reserves.” More often, the overall bid simply comes in lower because condition, future work and uncertainty are bundled together. A seller may reject a reserve-based deduction while accepting the same lower number from a buyer presenting cleaner financing and fewer conditions.

So I would look at buyer financing and seller motivation alongside the reserve position.
 
Price-cut timing could help separate ambitious sellers from genuine resistance. A building reduced shortly after listing sends a different signal from one sitting unchanged and then being withdrawn. With such a small sample, I would track the original ask, each reduction, days between changes and final outcome rather than rely on the median alone.
 
There is also a risk of double-counting. If a comparable completed sale was already discounted for poor condition and low reserves, applying another full reserve deduction to that adjusted value could make the offer artificially low.

A practical table could have separate columns for completed price, physical condition, identified work, reserve position, time listed, reductions and whether the property was withdrawn. Keep observations from each neighbourhood separate until the final comparison.
 
Seller motivation may matter more than the citywide movement. An owner with no urgency can ignore a carefully reasoned deduction, while another may value certainty. I would ask what information the seller will provide and whether the price already reflects the condition before deciding that weak reserves automatically create negotiating room. The answer may still be to move on, but only after testing the assumption.
 
My next step would be to narrow the list to genuinely comparable buildings in each neighbourhood, add recent completed sales, and flag withdrawn or relisted stock. Then estimate near-term work under a low and high scenario rather than pretending there is one precise reserve adjustment.

For any serious candidate, make the offer understandable: value based on local completed sales, less an allowance for documented work and uncertainty. If the seller will not provide enough information to support that exercise, that absence is itself useful when choosing between listings.
 
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