Norway interest rate held at 4.5% in November 2026
Norges Bank left its policy rate at 4.5% and said it is prepared to raise, while seasonally adjusted house prices rose and building permits stayed very low.
The facts
- Norges Bank kept the policy rate at 4.5%, a decision published on 5 November 2026 and taken unanimously at the meeting of 4 November.
- From 6 November 2026 the overnight lending rate is 5.50% and the reserve rate 3.50%, with the policy rate at 4.50%.
- Twelve-month CPI inflation was 3.4% in September. CPI-ATE, which strips out tax changes and energy, was 3.0%.
- "Adjusted for normal seasonal variations, house prices have risen as expected, while new home sales and the number of building permits remain at very low levels," the summary of the committee's deliberations records.
- Governor Ida Wolden Bache said it "will likely be necessary to keep the policy rate elevated for a time", and that the bank is prepared to raise the rate if needed.
- Market participants are pricing a policy rate increase by the end of the first half of 2027, the same summary notes.
What it means for your money
- Financing costs stay where they are and the risk points upward. The rate was raised to 4.5% in September, and the committee says it may raise again.
- Owners already holding keep the same monthly payment, and very low building-permit numbers mean less new supply competing with them at resale.
- Glopra records a Norwegian square metre at 7,383 USD against a monthly rent of 26.66 USD per square metre, both from Statistics Norway, so it is the rent that has to carry an unchanged 4.5% policy rate.
What to watch
- Monetary Policy Report 4/26 arrives with the next rate decision on 17 December 2026. No new forecasts were prepared for this meeting.
- One reading limit: the bank's house-price sentence is seasonally adjusted, so it measures something different from an unadjusted monthly price change and the two should not be set against each other.
- Unemployment stood at 2.0% at the latest count, the figure the committee weighs against 3.4% inflation.
Sources: Norges Bank https://www.norges-bank.no/en/topics/Monetary-policy/Monetary-policy-meetings/2026/november-2026/