Norwegians are renovating the wrong things: The data reveals what your home really needs
We replace floors that work, paint walls that don't need it and redo bathrooms just for looks. But how many of us use the property data that already exists to check what's actually wrong with our homes? Spir, which holds Norway's largest collection of housing data, says most of us don't.
Norway's biggest player in housing data
Property data has long been fragmented and hard to use. Spir is building the infrastructure that connects it and turns it into something both consumers and the industry can act on. Through Boligmappa, Ambita and iVerdi, the group holds information on millions of Norwegian buildings and homes. With "The Data Layer" as this year's theme for Oslo Proptech Summit, the partnership was a natural fit.
Buying a home is a case in point.
"Most people let their feelings lead when they buy a home. Does the living room feel good? Is the view nice? Do the colours feel right? Of course that matters too, but many people would benefit from paying more attention to the property's actual technical condition."
AI as your home advisor
Surveyors used to flip through binders and fill in forms by hand. Now the surveying system Ivit from iVerdi does the whole job digitally, from assignment to finished report.
Boligmappa is the home's digital service log. It automatically collects everything about maintenance and upgrades, pulled from tradespeople, public registers and homeowners themselves.
Together, they build a history of the housing stock that can predict which repairs and renovations should come first.
"AI will play an important role as an advisor for your home going forward," says Vigeland.
Real homes, real numbers
At Oslo Proptech Summit on 21 October, it gets concrete. Spir is bringing more than a talk. The company will lead a roundtable on how homeownership is set to change, and present brand-new figures from what it calls "Tilstand Norge", an overview of the actual state of the housing stock right now.
"These aren't just estimates. These are square metres inspected by building engineers in thousands of homes," says Vigeland.
The figures come from condition reports dating back to 2022, when condition reports were standardised following the introduction of The Norwegian Property Sales Act (avhendingsloven).
Spir's analysis has uncovered a hidden "maintenance time bomb" in Norwegian homes. The pattern is clear: Norwegians consistently prioritise the less important jobs.
"There's more focus on replacing floors that already work, painting, and maybe giving the bathroom a cosmetic makeover, than on fixing the roof, the drainage or other essential work," he says.
