Is Ulven a good place to buy now?

See what went wrong for property buyers in Oslo

Why are Oslo buyers suddenly taking Ulven seriously?

Ulven is worth taking seriously today because the area has already delivered enough of its redevelopment plan to stop feeling like a bet on drawings and promises.

Hundreds of new homes are occupied, Ulvenparken is established, the local kindergarten is operating, shops and restaurants have opened, and Construction City is now running. Its roughly 105,000 square metres can accommodate about 4,500 workers and students, and its latest annual report put occupancy around 90%. Construction City says close to 100 companies are based there.

The latest tenant activity also matters. NG Nordic recently signed for more than 1,000 square metres, with a planned move in 2027. That follows major commitments from groups such as Siemens, OBOS, AF Gruppen and other construction and property businesses. We are seeing an employment cluster continue to fill after opening rather than losing momentum once the launch was over.

For Ulven, that makes a real difference. Thousands of people coming to work locally give cafés, gyms, restaurants and services customers during the day as well as in the evening. The neighborhood becomes easier to sustain commercially.

Ulven still has plenty left to improve, but buyers today can judge an actual neighborhood rather than speculate about whether one will ever appear.

Part of the Ulven story	What exists today	What it tells us
New housing	Several completed residential phases	A resident base already exists
Construction City	~105,000 m², ~4,500 work/study places	Ulven has become a major workplace
Construction City leasing	Around 90% in latest annual reporting	The office component has gained real occupancy
Local services	Grocery, pharmacy, food, fitness and other services	Daily life is much more practical
Kindergarten	Ulvenparken barnehage operating	Family infrastructure has started catching up
Wider redevelopment	Still ongoing	Buyers can still benefit from further improvement

Is Ulven still early enough to make money from the redevelopment?

Ulven is still early as a finished neighborhood, but buyers are no longer getting early-stage prices simply for showing up.

Several of the changes that once justified taking a risk have already happened. Construction City is open. New residential streets exist. Parks and courtyards are being used. Ulven T is sold out. Økern and the rest of Hovinbyen are continuing to develop around the area.

New-build pricing reflects quite a lot of that progress.

OBOS currently starts Ulvenplassen at a total price of about NOK 5.23 million, with apartments from 43 square metres. Other units can move well above NOK 100,000 per square metre depending on size, floor and configuration. At those levels, we are no longer buying an ignored industrial district at a huge discount to established Oslo neighborhoods.

There can still be upside because today's Ulven has some awkward edges that should gradually disappear: unfinished construction, gaps between developments, busy surrounding roads and parts of Økern that still feel transitional.

But the investment has become more selective. Five or six years ago, getting Ulven right was largely about getting the neighborhood right. Today we also need to get the apartment and the purchase price right.

Is Ulven actually cheap compared with the rest of Oslo?

Parts of Ulven are still relatively affordable for Oslo, especially the older housing, while some new apartments already carry a completely different price tag.

Recent registered transactions show why we should separate the two markets. A Karl Staaffs vei apartment changed hands for NOK 4.075 million very recently. In the same immediate area, other sales over the past year have ranged from roughly the mid-NOK 3 millions to above NOK 5 million, with some Ulvenveien properties considerably higher.

That looks very different from buying straight from a developer. OBOS currently starts Ulvenplassen around NOK 5.23 million and Ulvenkroken around NOK 7.23 million. Ulvenkroken's remaining homes are also larger, starting at 67 square metres, so the comparison is not perfectly like-for-like, but the difference in capital required is substantial.

This creates one of the more interesting Ulven trades. An older apartment can benefit from the same new restaurants, workplaces, parks, schools and improved public realm as the brand-new building beside it. The owner receives much of the neighborhood upgrade without necessarily paying the full new-build premium.

Condition, energy efficiency and renovation risk still matter. We would not choose an inferior old apartment merely because its price per square metre is lower. But anyone buying Ulven today should compare old and new stock rather than assume the newest development offers the best exposure to the area's growth.

Ulven example	Approximate price	Segment	What it shows
Recent Karl Staaffs vei sale	NOK 4.075m	Older resale	Entry prices can still be much lower
Recent nearby lower-end sales	~NOK 3.6m-3.9m	Older resale	Affordable Ulven stock still exists
Ulvenplassen current starting price	~NOK 5.23m	New build	New-build entry point is substantially higher
Ulvenkroken current starting price	~NOK 7.23m	New build	Larger new homes require much more capital
Recent high-end nearby sale	>NOK 7m	Resale	Ulven itself already has a wide price range

Are all those unsold apartments at Ulven a warning sign?

Yes. The amount of finished new housing still for sale at Ulven is the clearest reason buyers should feel patient rather than rushed.

OBOS currently shows 120 available homes out of 260 at Ulvenplassen. That is about 46% of the project. Ulvenkroken is much further through its sales process, with 22 available out of 173, or roughly 13%.

Ulvenplassen deserves particular attention because the apartments are already move-in ready. We are therefore looking at actual completed inventory rather than homes that buyers are reluctant to reserve years before delivery.

Earlier in 2026, Aftenposten used Ulven as one of its clearest examples of Oslo's strange new-build problem: the city is widely considered to be building too few homes over the longer term, yet large numbers of completed apartments remain unsold because the prices and unit mix do not fit enough buyers.

The current figures still support that diagnosis. Ulven T has sold out, Ulvenkroken has absorbed most of its inventory, while Ulvenplassen still offers a huge amount of choice. Demand for the neighborhood clearly exists, but buyers are pushing back when the combination of price, apartment size or layout becomes less attractive.

For someone shopping today, that is useful. There is little reason to compromise on floor, orientation, sun or layout when the developer can still offer more than a hundred alternatives in one project.

Ulven project	Homes in project	Available now	Approx. share still available
Ulvenplassen	260	120	46%
Ulvenkroken	173	22	13%
Ulven T	-	0	Sold out

Is the Oslo housing market strong enough to push Ulven prices higher anyway?

The Oslo market currently looks too soft to justify buying Ulven on the assumption that citywide price growth will quickly cover an expensive purchase.

OBOS's latest numbers show used Oslo apartments at an average NOK 85,275 per square metre. Prices rose 0.8% in the latest month and have increased 2.7% since the start of the year, but they remain 1.4% below the same point a year earlier.

The transaction numbers are more revealing. OBOS recorded 12% fewer Oslo sales than a year earlier, the weakest comparable month in ten years and 17% below the ten-year average. Its pre-emption right was exercised on only 18.9% of eligible Oslo transactions, down from 30.6% a year earlier.

Buyers still have plenty to choose from.

The contrast with 2025 is sharp. By the same stage that year, OBOS Oslo prices had risen 8.6%. Today the market is moving much more slowly, despite prices increasing again in the latest two months.

We would therefore be careful with sales pitches built around "Oslo always goes up." A soft market can be a good time to buy a strong apartment because there is less competition. It is a much worse time to overpay for an ordinary one and hope momentum does the work.

Could Oslo's housing shortage eventually make Ulven much more valuable?

Yes, Oslo's lack of new construction could become a powerful tailwind for Ulven, although buyers may have to wait for today's unsold inventory to clear first.

Only around 1,620 new Oslo homes were launched for sale during 2025. Yet Aftenposten counted roughly 1,665 new homes still on the market around the middle of 2026.

Those figures sound contradictory until we look at affordability. Oslo can need more housing overall while simultaneously having too many newly built homes at prices households cannot comfortably pay.

That is especially relevant at Ulven. Developers cannot reproduce modern apartments cheaply when land, construction and financing costs are high, but existing projects still need to find buyers before scarcity can really bite.

If low construction continues for several years, today's completed inventory should gradually become more valuable simply because fewer competing projects will arrive behind it. Ulven would then enter that tighter market with parks, services, workplaces and transport already in place.

We like that argument much more over seven or ten years than over the next two. The shortage is a medium-term advantage, not a reason to ignore current prices.

Does Ulven finally feel like a real Oslo neighborhood?

Ulven already functions as a real neighborhood today, although some streets still make it obvious that the transformation is unfinished.

Residents now have a supermarket, pharmacy, cafés, restaurants, fitness options, kindergarten, landscaped courtyards and green spaces nearby. Construction City adds a large daytime population. The contrast with the old warehouse-and-road version of Ulven is substantial.

There are still gaps. Construction remains visible, some plots have yet to settle into permanent uses, and the broader Hovinbyen transformation will continue for years. Oslo municipality describes Hovinbyen as a long-term urban-development area rather than something approaching immediate completion.

That unfinished quality is part of the attraction for a long-term buyer. Ulven has moved far enough that basic neighborhood life works, while several of the things that still make the area feel rough should improve.

We should simply avoid paying today as though every one of those future improvements were already complete.

Will Construction City really raise Ulven apartment prices?

Construction City should help Ulven apartment values over time because it has brought a permanent concentration of jobs, students and spending into the neighborhood.

The scale is large enough to matter. Construction City covers about 105,000 square metres and has around 4,500 work and study places. Its latest annual report said the building was around 90% leased and approaching 100 businesses.

Activity has continued after opening. Construction City reported more than 350 events during 2025, including one with about 1,000 participants. More recently, NG Nordic signed a long-term lease for more than 1,000 square metres, adding to the companies already based there.

We would expect the housing effect to come mainly through better neighborhood economics. Thousands of workers support more food, fitness, retail and services than residents could support alone. They also give Ulven a reason for people elsewhere in Oslo to come there.

Some employees may choose to live close to work, but that should not be the main assumption behind a purchase. Oslo commuting distances are short enough that 4,500 workspaces do not translate into 4,500 potential nearby households.

Construction City's bigger contribution is making Ulven busier, more useful and less peripheral. That improvement is already visible and should keep helping as occupancy and surrounding development mature.

Is Ulven well connected enough to Oslo despite all the big roads?

Ulven is very well connected in practical terms, but buyers should check the exact building because walking distance to the metro and exposure to road noise vary a lot across a relatively small area.

Økern and Helsfyr provide strong T-bane access, while buses serve Ulven itself. From the metro, central Oslo is only a handful of stops away. Cycling links are also being improved as the municipality rebuilds streets through the area.

For households that drive, access to Ring 3 and the E6 is exceptionally convenient.

The trade-off is obvious when visiting. Major roads still shape the edges of the neighborhood. Noise, traffic and physical barriers were among the reasons old Ulven felt disconnected despite being geographically close to central Oslo.

That makes orientation unusually important. A bedroom facing a protected courtyard can deliver a completely different living experience from one exposed toward heavy traffic. The same applies to balcony direction, floor level and ventilation.

Municipal street projects can improve walking and cycling, and Hovinbyen's long-term Green Ring should make movement through the district more pleasant. They cannot erase the E6.

We would gladly pay more for the quiet side of a good Ulven building. We would be very reluctant to buy a noisy apartment just because the neighborhood around it is improving.

Is Ulven actually becoming a good place for families?

Ulven is much easier to recommend to families now because parks, kindergarten and new school capacity are gradually catching up with all the housing.

Ulvenparken barnehage is already operating and has space for dozens of children. New residential developments have largely been designed around sheltered courtyards, play areas and pedestrian spaces rather than surface parking.

The school story is still developing. Oslo is building a new lower-secondary school at Økern, with completion planned for autumn 2027, alongside the new Økern torgpark. The municipality has also previously identified future school needs around Ulven as residential development increases.

For families considering a specific apartment, current school catchments still deserve checking rather than relying on what a future map might look like.

For property values, the direction is helpful. Every new school, park or family service reduces the gap between Ulven and established residential districts where those amenities have existed for decades.

Family factor	Situation today	Where it is heading
Kindergarten	Already operating at Ulvenparken	Established
New residential courtyards	Already built in several projects	Maturing
Økern lower-secondary school	Under development	Planned for autumn 2027
Økern torgpark	Coming with the school	Adds nearby public space
School capacity	Still adapting to population growth	More investment required
Major roads	Still a weakness	Can be softened, not removed

Is a new Ulven apartment worth paying more for than an older one?

A new Ulven apartment can justify a premium, but the premium becomes hard to defend when buyers are paying heavily for both construction quality and the future neighborhood story.

New developments offer clear advantages: lifts, modern ventilation, newer bathrooms and kitchens, better energy standards, balconies, common spaces and much lower renovation risk in the first years.

Older Ulven apartments can be far cheaper. That leaves money available for renovation and gives buyers exposure to exactly the same neighborhood improvements.

The financing structure creates another difference. Some Ulven cooperatives use large amounts of common debt, so the cash contribution shown in an advert can look dramatically lower than the apartment's real economic price.

Take a home with a NOK 3 million cash contribution and roughly NOK 4 million of common debt. Economically, we are buying something around NOK 7 million, and future buyers will evaluate both the total debt and the resulting monthly charges.

Some projects allow individual repayment through an IN arrangement, which can be useful. But we still need to compare total purchase price, common charges today, expected charges once amortisation changes, and what equivalent resales cost nearby.

For us, one of the better Ulven setups is an apartment from an earlier phase that is modern enough to avoid major renovation work but has already lost its developer-newness premium.

Can you make good rental money from an Ulven apartment?

Ulven can work as a rental investment, but a newly built apartment bought at today's prices is unlikely to give an exciting yield.

The demand side is credible. Ulven sits near major employment areas, the metro, Helsfyr, Økern and now Construction City. Modern apartments also appeal to tenants who want newer buildings without paying central-Oslo prices.

The problem is purchase cost. If a two-room Ulven apartment costs around NOK 5.5-6 million and rents for somewhere around the high teens per month, annual rent lands around NOK 210,000-230,000. Gross yield is then roughly 3.5-4% before common charges, maintenance, vacancy, tax and financing.

Older stock bought in the NOK 4 million range can produce better mathematics at similar rents, although exact apartment quality and size obviously change the comparison.

We would buy Ulven primarily for a combination of long-term appreciation and rent, rather than for immediate cash yield.

Illustrative case	Purchase price	Monthly rent	Annual rent	Approx. gross yield
Newer apartment	NOK 6.0m	NOK 18,000	NOK 216,000	3.6%
Newer apartment	NOK 5.5m	NOK 18,000	NOK 216,000	3.9%
Older apartment	NOK 4.5m	NOK 18,000	NOK 216,000	4.8%
Older apartment	NOK 4.0m	NOK 17,000	NOK 204,000	5.1%

Could all the future building at Ulven hurt you when you try to resell?

Yes, continuing construction can make Ulven better while making it harder to resell an average apartment for a strong price in the next few years.

A private seller at Ulven currently competes with developers offering finished homes, brand-new interiors and alternative ownership products. OBOS alone still lists well over a hundred available homes at Ulvenplassen, plus remaining units at Ulvenkroken and its newer ownership concepts.

If our apartment is ordinary, a future buyer may simply walk across the road and compare it with a brand-new unit.

Developers also have tools private sellers lack. They can offer campaigns, different financing structures, Deleie, Bostart or incentives on particular units. That can put a ceiling on used-home pricing until enough new stock has disappeared.

Over a longer holding period, this problem should fade. Construction ends, developer inventories shrink, landscaping matures and today's brand-new buildings all become ordinary resales.

Ulven suits buyers who can stay. A two- or three-year holding period exposes us to the awkward middle of the transformation, while seven to ten years gives the neighborhood much more time to deliver the value we paid for.

Will Økern and Hovinbyen make Ulven much better over the next decade?

Yes, the wider Hovinbyen transformation is one of Ulven's strongest long-term advantages because it should gradually connect the neighborhood to a much larger continuous urban area.

Hovinbyen covers far more than Ulven. Plans across Økern, Løren, Hasle, Valle Hovin, Bryn and nearby districts involve new housing, workplaces, schools, parks and streets on a scale that will play out over decades.

Ulven therefore benefits even when construction happens outside Ulven itself.

Økern is especially important. The new school and torgpark should add another piece of everyday infrastructure nearby. Better pedestrian and cycling routes can also reduce the old feeling that each development sits on its own island between large roads.

There will also be huge amounts of competing housing. Buyers should not assume tens of thousands of future homes automatically create scarcity for an ordinary two-room apartment.

The stronger argument is that the whole part of Oslo becomes easier to live in. Ulven's location looks more central once the industrial gaps between established neighborhoods have been filled.

That can be a powerful change over ten years, even if it produces little excitement in any single year.

Which Ulven apartments are most likely to rise in value?

The Ulven apartments we would want today are quiet, easy to resell and difficult for the next development to copy cheaply.

Orientation comes first. With major roads around the district and dense construction inside it, a sheltered courtyard position, good daylight and usable balcony can matter a lot.

Floor plan comes next. A practical two- or three-room apartment gives us a broad buyer pool. Strange layouts, oversized corridors or expensive square metres that do little for daily life are harder to defend when plenty of alternative homes are available.

Transport also matters at the building level. A genuinely short walk to Økern T is more valuable than an advert stretching the definition of "close to the metro."

Then we would look hard at the building's finances. Large common debt, rising common charges or expensive facilities can make an apartment harder to sell even when the headline purchase contribution looks attractive.

Finally, we would compare the apartment with both new-build and older Ulven stock. A slightly used modern apartment bought clearly below comparable developer pricing is particularly interesting because the first owner has already absorbed part of the new-build premium.

What kind of Ulven apartment should you avoid right now?

We would avoid an Ulven apartment when the price only makes sense if Oslo prices rise quickly and every remaining redevelopment promise comes true.

The most obvious risk is an ordinary new-build unit priced like a scarce premium product while dozens of comparable apartments remain unsold nearby. Current inventory tells us there is no need to accept a weak floor, poor sun or awkward layout.

Road exposure is another one. We would want a meaningful discount for bedrooms or balconies facing the noisiest infrastructure because that disadvantage will remain after the cranes leave.

High common debt also needs to earn its place. If the financing pushes monthly costs to a level that future buyers may struggle with, the smaller upfront contribution is not much of an advantage.

Short holding periods make all of these weaknesses more dangerous. Buyers who may need to sell again within two or three years are competing against whatever new stock remains at that point.

Ulven becomes much more attractive when we find a quiet apartment, sensible total debt, a normal layout and a price clearly supported by nearby transactions.

Is Ulven a good place to buy now?

Yes. Ulven is one of the more attractive long-term redevelopment buys in Oslo today, but we would be picky because there is still too much unsold new housing to justify chasing an average apartment.

The strongest part of the case is that the neighborhood transformation has become tangible. Construction City is open and continues to add tenants. Parks, homes, kindergarten, shops and services already exist. Økern is getting more public infrastructure. The broader Hovinbyen transformation still has years to run.

At the same time, buyers have leverage. OBOS currently has 120 of 260 Ulvenplassen homes available and another 22 at Ulvenkroken. The wider Oslo resale market has also been unusually quiet: OBOS transactions recently came in 12% below a year earlier and 17% below the ten-year average for the month, while prices remain 1.4% below last year's level.

As we saw above, Ulven's older stock can also trade for much less than its newest projects. That gives buyers several ways to invest in the same neighborhood story without automatically paying the developer premium.

Our preferred purchase would be a quiet resale or discounted newer apartment with good daylight, a normal layout, manageable total debt and at least a seven-year holding period. An earlier Ulven phase that already feels modern but is priced below the latest new builds may offer the best balance.

We would be far more cautious about an expensive new apartment chosen mainly because "Ulven is the next big area." That discovery has already happened. What still creates opportunity today is the ability to buy the right apartment while sellers have more stock than buyers are willing to absorb.

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INVESTROPA

A team researching how property purchases actually go wrong across Europe

We are a team of real estate researchers and local specialists focused on helping people avoid expensive mistakes when buying property abroad, particularly in Oslo. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can check our presentation page.