Transfers of agricultural properties

Updated: 18 September 2023

Next update: 18 September 2024

Transfers of agricultural properties
Transfers of agricultural properties
2022
9 008
Registered transfers of agricultural properties
Registered transfers of agricultural properties
2022Change, per cent
Total numberShare2021 - 20222018 - 2022
Total9 008100-4.97.7
Type of transfer
Free market sale2 47627-2.2-10.5
Donation2 02923-18.69.1
Licensed and inheritance of decedent estate2 990334.710.5
Compulsory sale6819.70.0
Other1 44516-5.550.7
Transfers by purpose of use
Dwelling2 30026-5.919.0
Holiday89210-11.212.8
Agriculture5 26958-4.30.7
Other54766.034.1
Explanation of symbols

Selected tables and charts from this statistics

  • Registered transfers of agricultural properties, by county, type of transfer and type and sex of new owner
    Registered transfers of agricultural properties, by county, type of transfer and type and sex of new owner1
    Number of transfersNew ownerAverage age, new owner
    MaleFemalePrivate limited companyOtherIn family with former ownerNot in family with former owner
    20188 3615 0742 9732091054 8823 47952
    20198 5415 1113 1361831115 2003 34152
    20209 0045 4433 268202915 5803 42452
    20219 4735 7423 412233865 8963 57752
    20229 0085 3303 3482241065 4723 53653
    2022
    Oslo and Viken1 062626373511263043251
    Innlandet1 508908560202080870052
    Vestfold og Telemark66640223027739027653
    Agder638401208141538924951
    Rogaland51230818214833118151
    Vestland1 04962639124868136853
    Møre og Romsdal5713532029736420752
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage1 041634370241363940250
    Nordland - Nordlánnda1 07257745630965841457
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku88949537611758230758
    By type of transfer
    Free market sale2 4761 73752416550202 45645
    Donation2 0291 321702151 83019944
    Licensed2 9901 2931 6714222 49249867
    Compulsory sale6853753125648
    Other1 44592644449261 11832750
    1Comprises properties with at least 5 decares own agriculture area and/or at least 25 decares productive forest area.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Agricultural properties sold on the free market, by purchase price
    Agricultural properties sold on the free market, by purchase price1
    Transfers in totalNumber of properties by purchase priceAverage purchase price per transfer
    Until NOK 999 000NOK 1 000 000 - 1 999 000NOK 2 000 000 - 2 999 000NOK 3 000 000 - 4 999 000More than NOK 5 000 000NOK
    20182 7689146494264773022 555 000
    20192 8219446464344743232 596 000
    20202 8568596024895353712 946 000
    20212 5316555474135173993 100 000
    20222 4766744463974954643 496 000
    2022
    Oslo and Viken315562930601405 882 000
    Innlandet5321431059998873 445 000
    Vestfold og Telemark18936312943505 069 000
    Agder17539282538453 898 000
    Rogaland12330161328364 289 000
    Vestland24450395364383 091 000
    Møre og Romsdal13831442330102 206 000
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage29392434179383 045 000
    Nordland - Nordlánnda273113605237111 985 000
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku1948451321891 806 000
    1Comprises properties with at least 5 decares own agriculture area and/or at least 25 decares productive forest area.
    Explanation of symbols
  • Registered transfers of agricultural properties, by county
    Registered transfers of agricultural properties, by county1
    Agricultural properties in totalTransfers in totalTransfers by purpose of useTransfers with buildingTransfers on the free marked2
    DwellingHolidayAgricultureOtherIn totalWithout buildingWith building
    2018182 3288 3611 9327915 2304087 4092 7683792 389
    2019180 9338 5412 0458215 2224537 5132 8213922 429
    2020180 0879 0042 3141 0035 2564318 0052 8563812 475
    2021180 0259 4732 4451 0055 5075168 5062 5312722 259
    2022182 3919 0082 3008925 2695477 9282 4763602 116
    2022
    Oslo and Viken24 6541 062258476906790331559256
    Innlandet30 0781 508414103941501 31953275457
    Vestfold og Telemark12 719666164384283661118927162
    Agder13 225638181543683556317524151
    Rogaland10 32251279183664944512321102
    Vestland23 5621 049220946676896024423221
    Møre og Romsdal13 377571158373304652713814124
    Trøndelag - Trööndelage20 9171 041231886804292229357236
    Nordland - Nordlánnda18 1771 0723362564107094427332241
    Troms og Finnmark - Romsa ja Finnmárku15 3608892591573898473419428166
    1Comprise properties with at least 5 decares agricultural area or/and 25 decares productive forest area
    2Free market sale means that the property is sold for a price corresponding to the market value. The property is not always announced for sale on the free market.
    Explanation of symbols

About the statistics

The statistics show the number of registered transfers of agricultural properties, buyer and seller information, sales value, transfers by purpose of use (agriculture, dwelling, holiday etc.) and different types of transfer (sold on the free market, donations etc.).

Registered transfer of real property

Includes registered transfers of title and establishment and transfer of lease. A transfer can include the whole or part of one or more ground parcels, leases and sections of buildings registered as freehold. Transfers of dwellings attached to housing co-opertives or similar are not included.

Agricultural and forestry property

Property that is used for or could be used for agriculture and/or forestry. All agricultural/forestry area belonging to the same owner within a municipality is regarded as one property, irrespective of the number of cadastral units.

Forest property

Property with at least 25 decares of productive forest area.

Agricultural holding

A single unit both technically and economically, which has single management and which produces agricultural products. The holding is independent of municipality boundaries. The agricultural holding's headquarter must be located to an agricultural property.

Transfer of Agricultural and forrest properties

A transfer does not only comprise ordinary sale, but also donation, compulsory sale and eminent domain, licensed decedent estate, inheritance of decedent estate and other. A transfer can also comprise one or several cadastral units. For properties with more than one owner, a transfer can also be a part of a property.

Donation

Properties transferred for a price lower than the tax base / market value is coded as a donation.

Purpose of use

Information of the properties purpose of use is given on the deed of conveyance.

Free market sale

Free market sale means that the property is sold for a price corresponding to the market value. The property is not always announced for sale on the free market.

Activity in agriculture

Activity in agriculture means that the property is the management center for one or several agricultural properties.

Activity in forestry

An agricultural property with at least 25 decares productiv forest area that has carried out industrial roundwood removals for sale the last ten years.

Name: Transfers of agricultural properties
Topic: Agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing

18 September 2024

Division for Housing, Property, Spatial and Agricultural Statistics

County and centrality / industrial link.

Annually.

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 is to show the development over time of registered transfers of agricultural properties. Transfers of agricultural properties are regulated by legal framework and a large share of the transfers take place within the family. Agricultural properties vary in size (agricultural land, productive forest and other land categories), standard on buildings and location.

The main users are public and private sector agencies, research and educational institutions and media.

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 quarterly statistics on registered transfers of real property also include figures for transferred agricultural properties. However, only properties where agriculture is reported as the purpose of use on the deed of conveyance are included in these statistics.

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

Including 2010, the statistics comprise properties in the Farm Register of the Norwegian Agricultural Authority with at least 5 decares owned agricultural area and/or at least 25 decares productive forest area. As from 2012 the statistics are based on new cartographic data analyses and data on owners and properties from the cadastre in combination with data from the Farm register. Figures for 2011 are not published.

An agricultural property may comprise one or several cadastral units within a municipality. Each cadastrial unit is identified by a number and one of the numbers are choosen as the main number, in most cases the unit with buildings. A registered transfer may also comprise one or several cadastral units, and the lowest number is chosen as the main number of the property. A property therefor may have different main number in these two registers.

The agricultural properties and the registered transfers are first merged by the main number. For agricultural properties not merging by main number, each cadastral unit are merged with the rest of the transfers. If agriculture is given as a purpose of use on the deed of conveyance, or the cadastral unit has a code for agriculture in the register, the transfer is included in this statistics.

A registered transfer does not only comprise ordinary sale, but also donation, compulsory sale and eminent domain, licensed decedent estate, inheritance of decedent estate and other. A transfer can also comprise one or several cadastral units. For properties with more than one owner, a transfer can also be a part of a property. The same agricultural property can be transferred several times during the same year.

Transfers of agricultural properties representing a purchase price / value exceeding NOK 20 million are not very common, and the number of such transfers varies between years. This will lead to considerable variation in average purchase price from one year to another. As from 2009, transfers where the purchase price exceeds NOK 20 million are not included in the calculation of average purchase price. As from 2013, this limit is NOK 30 million. Corrections are also done for transfers that only comprise parts of a property and for transfers of properties with building merged to a property without building. These corrections are only done to make the average purchase price comparable and will not influence the number of transfers.

Corresponding corrections are also done for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The statistics is built on the Agricultural and forrest properties from the statisitcs "Agricultural Properties" and data from the Register of Deeds (Grunnboka), the Cadastre System (no: Matrikkelen) and the Central Population Register.

Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority is responsible for the Register of Deeds.

The statistics are built on registers.

A large number of controls are done during the process of merging the registers: Controls of duplicates, manually check of transfers with large values, coding of different units and controls of illogical data combinatons.

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.

The statistics are prepared annually back to 2000. Figures on the properties´ buildings and settlement are prepared for 2000 and annually from 2006.

Agricultural properties comprise considerable areas and building resources, with and without industrial activity. Changes in the legal framework may cause changes of importance due to settlement, industrial activity and other activity on agricultural properties.

In the period 2000-2009 the Concession Act is changed three times. In 2001, the upper area limit for dispensation from concession requirement for transfers of agricultural properties changed from 5 decares to 20 decares. In 2003, the corresponding upper area limit was changed to 100 decares, of this 20 decares or less cultivated agricultural area. In 2009, the upper area limit remained 100 decares, while the upper limit for cultivated area was changed to 25 decares.

Errors may arise when data are entered into administrative registers. Errors may also occur while different registers are merged during the data processing. For example: various date for upgrading the register information.

Registering a transfer in the Register of Deeds is voluntary, but only an insignificant share of the transfers are not registered.

There is also reason to belive that some small agricultural properties are not registered or have lacking data in the Farm Register.

The statistics are based mainly on information reported in connection with registration of title to property and thus considered to be reliable. Misclassification of type of property and type of dwelling may occur. Lacking information of unproductive areas in the Farm Register, results in no opportunity to classify agricultural property transfers by the propertys total area.

In 2009, controls are done by means of the national population register to inquire whether the property is sold within the family or not. Family includes spouse, children, brothers, sisters, parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles. In 1964, personal identification number was introduced. Even several natural persons who died before 1964 have got a number. The older a person is the harder it is to find a link between parents and their children. In some instances the lack of personal identification number will make it difficult to check the relationship between the old and new owner, especially when the former owner is sister or brother of one of the parents of the new owner.

A transfer can have more than one buyer and one seller. In this statistics, the relationship is only checked for one seller and one buyer. This person with the largest owner share is chosen. If two persons have identical owner share, the oldest one is chosen. About 70 per cent of the transfers have one buyer, 20 per cent have two and 10 per cent have three or more. Especially properties transferred as inheritance of decedent estate have three or more new owners.

Not relevant

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