Home / Europe / Norway / Real Estate

Real Estate

Our Real Estate group has comprehensive legal expertise within property development and property transactions, and provides a broad range of services for clients with property interests.

Our highly experienced team covers all areas of real estate law, and is one of Norway's largest real estate departments. Our clients include many of Norway's largest public and private sector property developers, advisors, contractors and trade associations.

We provide real estate law advice to anyone with property interests, including property investors, property developers, government bodies, contractors and private individuals. We assist throughout the industry chain, from the acquisition of development land to the completion of building projects, including conversion into individual units, property sales and property leases for all types of use.

We also assist with complex reimbursement cases and compulsory acquisition cases, including pre-emptive acquisition claims under the Planning and Building Act and claims for damages from loss under zoning plans.

Our lawyers are actively engaged with regulatory framework developments, and have an in-depth understanding of the regulatory background and history. The group's experienced lawyers include members of the Norwegian Bar Association's legal committee on administrative law and the Norwegian Bar Association's legal committee on planning and building law, as well as co-authors of leading legal books on planning and building law and compulsory acquisition.

Being professionally up-to-date at all times is one of our top priorities.

Kluge has a great understanding of the challenges and assignments, very good customer service and always deliver on time.

Chambers and Partners, Real Estate 2021
14/06/2022
CMS European Real Estate Deal Point Study 2022
Real estate investment markets remain stable whilst buyers continue to catch up in contractual risk allocation Logistics assets more popular than everDemand from international investors reaches record high accounting for 55% of deals, with most international investors still being from within EuropeIncreased desire for security on the part of sellers continued to be a feature in 2021: share of transactions in which the buyer's payment obligations are secured reaches another record high­Buy­er-friendly trend in contractual risk allocation continues as seller-friendly provisions on limitation of liability continue to declineThe European real estate investment market appears to have largely recovered from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Compared to the pan­dem­ic-stricken previous year, total investment increased by around 15% to approximately EUR 270 billion, marking a return to the pre-crisis level. Logistics assets performed particularly well last year, having become the focus of investors’ attention due to their stable income flows and the ongoing growth of online shopping. Demand from international investors was also up again in 2021, with intra-European transactions being the rule. 2021 also brought a new record high in the number of transactions in which the buyer's payment obligations were secured. With regard to contract design, the buyer-friendly trend continued, as reflected especially by a decrease in de minimis and basket clauses as well as caps. Logistics assets more popular than ever Office properties were a popular asset class in 2021 despite all the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, although some market share was lost to logistics and residential. The slight downward trend in office transactions handled by CMS seen in previous years nonetheless continued, with their share declining from 30% in 2020 to 19%. The reason for the declining proportion of transactions in the office segment is likely to be two-fold, combining the lack of available core properties and the current uncertainty around the impact of hybrid ways of working on demand for office space. The residential and logistics asset classes on the other hand were especially popular in 2021, each with a market share of 23%, compared to 22% and 19% respectively in 2020. One of the key factors for this trend was the stable income generated by residential and logistics properties, which is particularly attractive to investors. Logistics assets additionally benefited from the ongoing growth of online shopping, which was boosted recently by the COVID-19 pandemic and the related closure of retail shops, leading to an increased need for delivery and distribution centres. High demand from international, mostly intra-European, investors International investors were more active again last year: they accounted for 55% of deals in 2021, compared to 43% in 2020. In 2020, international investors had a difficult time, not least due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The associated travel restrictions meant that many international investors from other continents were forced to postpone their planned transactions. The property market seems to have recovered from these effects last year, with a new record 55% of transactions involving foreign investors. However, these foreign investors were mostly from within Europe; the number of intercontinental transactions remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Sellers seek security An increased desire for security on the part of sellers continued to be a feature in 2021. The share of transactions in which steps were taken to ensure that the buyer met its financial obligations rose further in 2021. Sellers were granted security in more than two thirds of cases (70%). This trend is consistent with 2020, when an increased desire for security on the part of sellers was already apparent. In contrast, security was agreed in less than 50% of all transactions in the period from 2015 to 2018. The current high level is due in part to an increased desire for security on the part of sellers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; they were often uncertain about the buyer’s solvency going forward. Buyers continue to catch up in contractual risk allocation Buyers were able to catch up further in terms of contractual risk allocation. The proportion of transactions with seller-friendly de minimis clauses and basket clauses (i.e. clauses that provide for a threshold or minimum limit for guarantee claims by the buyer) stagnated or declined somewhat compared with the preceding years. In the previous year, after a noticeable decline, agreements aimed at limiting liability were made in 44% (de minimis clauses) and 41% (basket clauses) of cases. The share of deals with a basket clause fell further to 32% in 2021. As in 2020, a de minimis clause was included in 44% of the transactions analysed. A similar trend was seen in con­trac­tu­ally-agreed liability caps. Whilst the proportion of transactions with a cap was well over 60% in some cases in the years up to 2018, the percentage of agreements with a con­trac­tu­ally-agreed maximum liability fell slightly from 56% in 2020 to 50%.

Feed

03/03/2023
New partner in CMS Kluge
We are very happy to welcome Torill Hasle Aamelfot as new partner in CMS Kluge.Torill comes from a position as partner in Deloitte law firm, where she has been a partner for 24 year. She assists public...
14/11/2022
New partner in CMS Kluge
We are very happy to welcome Alexander With as a partner in CMS Kluge.  Alexander comes from a position as partner in Deloitte law firm, where he was head of the indirect tax department for twelve years...
01/06/2022
CMS Next
What’s next? In a world of ever-ac­cel­er­at­ing change, staying ahead of the curve and knowing what’s next for your business or sector is essential. At CMS, we see ourselves not only as your legal advisers but also as your business partners. We work together with you to not only resolve current issues but to anticipate future challenges and innovate to meet them. With our latest publication, CMS Next, our experts will regularly offer you insights into and fresh perspectives on a range of issues that businesses have to deal with – from ESG agendas to restructuring after the pandemic or facing the digital transformation. We will also share with you more about the work that we are doing for our clients, helping them innovate, grow and mitigate risk. To be able to provide you with the best support, we immerse ourselves in your world to understand your legal needs and challenges. However, it is equally important that you know who we are and how we can work with you. So, we invite you to meet our experts and catch a glimpse of what is happening inside CMS. Enjoy reading this publication, which we will update regularly with new content. CMS Executive Team
24/03/2021
Care homes in Norway
1. Which laws apply to opening care homes? The Municipal Health and Care Services Act (Law-2011-06-24-30) and the Health Personell Act (Law-1999-07-02-64) are important pieces of legislation in terms...
Comparable
18/03/2021
Top rankings for Kluge in Chambers Europe 2020
Chambers Europe has published their results for 2020 Kluge is once again ranked as a band 1 firm in two of our core practice areas: Com­pet­i­tion/An­ti­trust: Public Procurement and Construction. Kluge is...
17/06/2020
Law and regulation of rental agreements in Norway during Covid-19
Updated on 20.03.2020. 1. Is a lessee eligible for rent reduction due to a significant decline in footfall and consequently its turnover as a result of COVID-19? In principle not, but the COVID-19 situation...