The Copenhagen Report

By: Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)



Construction, construction, construction. And falling prices. The Copenhagen housing market is quite a thing to get a handle on these days. On one hand is a rapidly growing number of apartments for sale (with rapidly dropping price tags), on the other is a pile of ongoing and recently completed housing projects - most of these were conceived and started quite some time before the housing market in Copenhagen went belly up some 18 to 24 months ago - after a lengthy and sustained period of rapidly rising prices. So there's plenty of units in these new buildings available if you like what you see.

There are a few intense pockets of construction around Copenhagen - each characterised by lots of visible 'for sale' signs. Perhaps the most ambitious of these development areas is found along the harbour front on both the Vesterbro and the Islands Brygge sides. The buildings are visually quite compelling, though their price tags are less so - for example, the new Havneholm apartments that are effectively opening up a whole new area of Vesterbro. The apartments being built directly behind the shopping mall Fisketorv (pictured above) are another.

For those who have take the bait and bought in this particular re-developed area, well, it's difficult to say how daily life is. There's no question the apartments themselves are (or will be) crisply modern and bright - and highly appealing on this basis. Yet one can't help but wonder how this squares with the general plan for development around the buildings - or lack thereof. This is the stuff that really makes urban life most pleasurable, at least by many estimations. Amongst that which surrounds these buildings it is strikingly undeveloped, scattered and inconsistent. Actually, it could be said that what isn't fournd in the area that provokes questions. Complimenting these sky-high per sqare meter priced apartments is certainly not trendy cafes and restaurants, or a thoughfully planned out landscape, though there is a certain type of shopping opportunity in Fisketorv. It is difficult to see anything that would compel the residents to do more than simply ride the elevator up and down to their wonderful new apartments - and stay there (granted, looking out at a wonderful view of the channel). See, while Fisketorv may be close at hand, trendy is not a word I would use to describe a day at this or pretty much any other mall.


a second to none waterfront view - though not every day is a
blissfully sunny and warm one, especially in Copenhagen.

The development (and subsequent sales) plan for these new buildings basically goes like this:

1. put building in front of channel, ensuring (at least half of) the apartments have a great view.
2. sell apartments at wildly inflated prices based upon this waterfront location (and view).
3. hope they sell before buyers and prospective buyers realise that coherent integrated plan for creating life and opportunities for residents around the apartment buildings is non-existent.

But I digress. There is another part of the story.

On a wildly sunny June, July or August day, the Islands Brygge swimming area of Copenhagen is about as good as it gets in Copenhagen - it's few few hundred meters away from these new developments. So this is certainly an attraction and weighty selling point. The crowds (granted Copenhagen-sized ones), flock to the area to bake in the sun, swim in the clean (though generally chilly) channel waters, and barbecue as the sun sets (using with characteristic disposable barbecues that I have only ever come across in Denmark).

Perhaps the development project that epitomises the best and worst of life along the waterfront is the magnificent converted silos that bookend one side of the newly-constructed bridge connecting Vesterbro, via the shopping mall Fisketorv, with Islands Brygge. As an architectural project, this one is something to behold. Above the concrete base of this one-of-a-kind apartment building, sunny circular balconies provide a look-out over the water, and are surely the envy anyone who appreciates a waterfront view. But below the balconies, where the concrete base of the building begins, it's a different story. The developers simply didn't concern themselves in the least with that.



The picture above tells the story. Notice the wonderful grassy yard in which to relax by the sea, the cheerful play equipment for children, the direct swimming and boating access to the channel (which is indeed clean enough to swim in - there is a channel 'pool' just a few hundred meters away)? No probably not, as there simply isn't any of that! The landscaping is about as raw as it can get. There is a sort of empty modernness about it, but not much else.

On the other hand, the bridge out front is a true selling point, connecting Vesterbro and Islands Brygge as they never have been before - which indeed is a great benefit for those on both sides of the channel.


the bridge by night

So who exactly is buying these places? And what to really make of them? Are buyers really getting a good deal, a 'ground-level' opportunity to be part of something truly unique in Copenhagen? Or are these places destined to quickly shed their value and fall more in-line with the prices apartment around the rest of Copenhagen?

Perhaps this really is phase 1, and phase 2 will see a further transformation of the area as the developers move out, and local entrepreneurs spot opportunities to bring new life into the area. It's hardly around the corner, but it could happen yet. In the meantime, pull out your fat chequebook if you are truly compelled by what you see here and now - because it will cost you.

If you are familiar with Copenhagen, you may recognise that there is something notable in this picture. It's taken coming down towards the Amerikakaj/Dampfærgevej area of the city (where the Oslo ferry arrives shortly after 9 each morning, and departs at 5pm sharp every afternoon).

You see, there are relatively few buildings in Copenhagen - residential or commercial - that exceed 5-6 stories in height. Sure they do exist, but in comparison to most major cities there just aren't that many. This is one of them - it's a brand new development I think it's worth singling out for some attention for it's excellent architectural design.

While industrial and commercial architecture in Copenhagen all too often leaves something to be desired, the same cannot always be said of residential construction projects, of which there have been a few of note over the past years. On my way to and from work every day, I pass by this one - it's actually two buildings. Unfortunately, the location and surroundings leave much to be desired, since it is situated by a very major traffic artery filled with noisy rigs and large trucks. On the other hand, if you have one of the upper floor apartments in the high rise building, it comes with a great view of the channel.



Nonetheless, fantastic design in my humble opinion.



Complete with balconies - all too rare in Copenhagen, though they have been dramatically increasing in popularity in recent years, with plenty being added to existing old (often very old) buildings every year.



The area of Dampfærgevej/Parkhusvej/Amerika Plads is largely a commercial area, with lots of offices, but in the past few years a number of new apartment buildings have sprung up. If you like being close to the city, but are fine with having few of the normal amendments just outside your door that typically come with urban living - such as a variety of interesting shops, restaurants and cafes (not to mention people), it's an area worth considering. It's not quite for me, though it's quite a nice area in which to work, I can tell you.



And with the real estate market around Copenhagen (and much of the rest of Denmark) having hit the skids, there are plenty of units still available if you like what you see...and you could probably swing a great deal for one, the way things are going.


no shortage of for sale signs...

by: Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)



It's hard to imagine a relatively dry article about the housing market in Copenhagen - The sound of the popping bubble: A bit about psychology and Copenhagen's housing market - a recent article on this blog, going over especially well. Especially as it also happened to be a rather long article - even by my own rather, ahem, lengthy standards.

To my surprise, up to now it is the article that has generated the most emails of any of the articles on this blog. Even more amazingly, it's actually one of the top google hits for 'Copenhagen housing market' at the moment, which is rather funny. So here's a slightly shorter follow-up.

The issue of the buying, selling, renting and moving apartments - and the general state of the Copenhagen housing market - are all subjects that tend occupy a rather significant mental space in the minds of many of those living here (myself included - we're in the process of moving apartments right now). Even if in themselves they aren't the most entertaining of topics.

Which brings me to the latest email I received in relation a couple previous Copenhagen housing market articles written for this blog.

It went like this:

"My interest is as a seller. I put my apartment on the market about 2 months ago and only one person has been to visit. My estate agent recommends I reduce the price and do so as soon as possible...thing is he's not very clear on why exactly other than the volume of properties is increasing. My reservation for dropping now is we're moving into what is typically considered to be a more active season in the market and I had hoped things would pick up...I'm not in a rush to sell the property, but don't want to wait it out and get caught in a readjustment."

The first thing I should say is that I find it odd and rather amusing to be answering such questions. I'm certainly not an expert on this subject - the experience I have comes from selling private jets a few years back, and noting that the behaviour in private jet market largely mirror what happens in the housing market.

Here's my thoughts on this particular question.

The typical market cycle in the housing market is LONG - normally three to four years. Meaning a quick turnaround in the Copenhagen real estate market is unlikely.

To imagine there is any significant 'seasonal variation' in a market like this one - as in a pile of buyers appearing who will suddenly drive up prices or even hold prices to their current level - is purely wishful and unrealistic thinking. There are simply too many apartments for sale in Copenhagen, at the moment. A few extra buyers in the springtime is unlikely to have even the slightest impact on selling prices.

The housing market in Copenhagen has been overheating for too long. But now it is catching up with itself.

A lot of people have second apartments to sell, interest rates have risen slightly, and frankly price inflation bypassed the money that was out there some time ago. Hence why more and more apartments are being put up for sale. A lot of people were essentially speculating on continued price inflation, even if they didn't fully realise that this was what they were doing.

The current downcycle has probably been going for about 12 to 18 months - which is a lot longer than most people realise.

It has really only been in the past couple months that this downcycle has been widely acknowledged in the media (and real estate agents have begun to shake themselves out of denial). And sellers are really only beginning to react, en masse, to the situation now. Hence the flood of asking prices being lowered (check out www.boliga.dk - only in Danish, but just look at the big negative number in the top right corner to get an idea of what is happening - it's the amount asking prices have fallen across Denmark since the beginning of the year).

This is a trend that will continue as more and more people react to the situation, realising that the plans for buying and selling and the amount of money they thought they would make now looks rather different. And a lot of sellers are imagining that they are going to wait the market out and hang tough on their selling price. It's a game of chicken, but the market has plenty of room left to fall. A lot sellers will crumble, and a lot more prices will tumble.

Sure there will always be the remote possibility that something unexpected will happen that will distort the typical lengthy market pattern/cycle and reverse the current trend (for example, the new 200 year mortgage that the government has proposed). But realistically this remains quite unlikely.

Even when the cycle hits the bottom, it will be some time before any significant price recovery can be felt - all the apartments for sale at the moment are not going to get sold overnight.

So it's unlikely an apartment seller will get any higher sales price than right now for at least the next couple years. But prices are quite likely to drop further still. Meaning that for sellers, unless you are willing to hold out for quite some time, the best advice really is to drop the price and sell it when a serious buyer appears.

Because attracting a real buyer is the issue. Playing around with the asking price probably won't make that much difference to this end (of course, it might help a little). It's the selling price that counts, so getting the message across to as many real estate agents as possible that you are a serious seller might.

Let it be known that your selling price is flexible, because sellers will have to match the market to get their apartments sold no matter what their asking price is.

My experience (gleaned from selling jets) is to tell your agent (and everyone else you can) that you want your apartment being one of the next ones (in it's size range) to sell, so they should make sure any buyers they have have see the place and have them make their best offer for it.

Any good agent will understand this as code to mean, 'forget about our asking price, just bring us a serious offer from a real buyer and we'll probably take it'. Still, with everyone clamouring for buyers, even this may not make much difference for some time to come. But it's better than nothing.

by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)

Following up on my last article about Copenhagen's housing market (The sound of the popping bubble: A bit about psychology and Copenhagen's housing market) that talked about how the housing price bubble in Copenhagen that has now burst, here's some additional rather useful information, particularly if you are a prospective buyer of an apartment or house in or around Copenhagen.

There are a couple of excellent websites that, particularly when taken together, give and excellent overview of the market in Copenhagen (and around Denmark).

The first is a site, www.boliga.dk, which lists all the houses and apartments for sale in Copenhagen, including the cost of these properities per m2 - and provides links to the agents who are selling each of them. This site has been stirring up some controversy thanks to the Danish Real Estate Agents Association, who objected the manner in which the site obtained the information the housing market statistics it calculates (well, used to - it has now stopped, thanks to these objections).

These statistics included a calculation of how much the entire market rose or dropped over the past day. Needless to say, they showed that the housing market has been in quite a freefall recently.

But about the trends. I also noted previously, that a real estate agent in Copenhagen who I had spoken to had noted that asking prices were around 25% higher than selling prices in Copenhagen, at present.

Now, as one would expect, one would expect the next step would be to see asking prices begin to fall - and probably quite drastically - as increasingly desparate sellers begin to take steps to attract the relatively few buyers that are out there.

And guess what? That is exactly what is happening.

Which brings us to the second useful website, www.tipenbolig.dk, a site that provides a daily list of all properties in Copenhagen (and across Denmark) with changed asking price - and the amount of this change. Obviously, this gives a pretty clear picture of the market trend - particularly since about 99% of the price changes registered each day for the past several weeks have been reductions in asking prices (and there have been a lot of them).

In fact, in total the asking prices of properties across Copenhagen have fallen by 1.2bn (!!) kroner since November 2006. That's quite something. You might want to hold off buying a new place in Copenhagen for a little while longer...

by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)


anybody selling...

Money is always an exciting thing to have dangled in front of you. Especially if, like me, you don't really have much of it. If you're buying or selling a property in Copenhagen (or elsewhere), this may help you make a bit more money and a bit faster, or maybe spend a bit less.

When a bubble pops, it's gone. Something to take to heart when the bubble in question happens to encompass a lot of cold hard cash. I'm talking about the billions of kroner in value that has been sheered off of the (supposed) value of houses and apartments across Copenhagen over the past few months. The housing market in Copenhagen, you see, has turned.

To be clear about my view on things, it is highly unlikely one will lose money in the long term in housing in any major city, especially Copenhagen - perennial destination of choice in Denmark. However, in the short term, this may not be the case. Then it's more about psychology and knowing when to make the right deal.

Psychology plays a surprisingly big role in things.

Buying and selling an apartment is ultimately a matter of deal making. Good dealmakers know how to harness (and overcome) the forces of psychology. That means leaving as much emotion aside as possible (or turning it to your advantage), taking a somber look at the prevailing tide, grasping just where things are heading, and tempering actions appropriately. Of course, emotions matter, you just can't let them run wild - especially if your view is a short term one. This is, of course, not exactly easy when the issue in question is a home.

So we have the case of the Copenhagen apartment buyer (of course, this story applies all over the western world).

About a year and a half ago, I discussed Copenhagen's complicated housing situation in an article (Closing Time In Copenhagen (Part 2): The Housing Situation). Among other things, I noted that housing prices had been rising at a wildly unsustainable rate (a rate that was well above what official statistics suggested).

For at least 18 month (up until mid-2005), the average apartment in Copenhagen had been rising at around 20,000 kroner (2000 euro) per month. In fact, this had been the case for several years, however the zenith was this final 18-month period.

To give some perspective on that number, this amount is a little above the average after tax monthly salary in Copenhagen. In other words, you could make the same amount on your house each month as you could by going to work. You don't need to know anything about interest rates and so forth to realise that this was just not a sustainable situation.

Ah, but how times change.

A brief digression. A few years ago, I had an unlikely job selling private jets (really), and here I learned a lot about buyer and seller behaviour and long-term market trends and patterns. Some day I hope to actually use this knowledge to make some money for myself, for now I can only share it. The private jet market mirrors the economy as a whole, and it also mirrors the typical behaviour of the housing market.

When prices rise, they do so for a number of years. And as they rise, the number of properties for sale drops. At the peak of the market, there are very few properties for sale. So a good way to get an idea of where the market is at, is to look at a long term chart showing the number of properties for sale (each month).

Then the market turns (though few realise it until months after it has happened). When the number of houses for sales begins to rise consistently, the market has already turned, even though few will realise it at this point - of course there can be a few false turns before the real one.

When the market turns, it's not simply a matter of dropping your asking price to match the market. It's more a matter of praying somebody falls in love with your place. You see, inevitably at this point, there are NO BUYERS (or at least far less buyers than there are sellers). So it also helps to have a long term chart showing a rough figure for the monthly number of apartments sold, as well. When it starts dropping consistently, that is the other indication that the market has turned.

A drop in monthly house sales is exactly what is happening in Copenhagen right now. A recent article in The Copenhagen Post noted that housing sales in Copenhagen decreased by 40% in 2006. FORTY PERCENT! That's a lot of panicking real estate agents, you can be sure, and a lot of sellers wondering why it's taking so long to get their place sold.

Why are there suddenly so few buyers?

Good question. You see, previously people just bought a new property, knowing that with prices rising and lots of buyers, it would be no problem to sell their old one later. With a shortage of buyers and prices dropping, people suddenly find themselves stuck with second properties they are trying to sell for a lot longer then they want to have them, and as more and more people begin waiting to sell before they buy (because they can see the market is dropping), the situation is compounded. That they are waiting to sell before buying is indeed a big change, hence (the often rather sudden) lack of buyers in the market.

A friend who is an estate agent in Copenhagen, and whom I have spoken to over the years about the real estate market in Copenhagen, confirmed that currently around 50% of apartment sellers in Copenhagen already own a second property. That's a lot. It happens when people get caught as the market turns.

Typically, these sellers make a second big mistake. Shortly after putting their property for sale, they may receive one or two serious offers from buyers, but at a much lower price then they expected to sell for. Inevitably, they reject these, not realising these will be the last offers they will be receiving for quite some time. It's an avoidable situation, but the best response to it requires a significant mindset shift - a psychological issue - and of course knowing what signs to look for in order to know that the market is indeed turning. Hence why getting ahold of an up to date chart showing the number of properties for sale over a few year period (in your region) can tell you a lot - both as a buyer or seller.

Those who are clever in this way and can see the trends, may be able to overcome their belief in what they thought their property was worth and make a timely deal (that may have nonetheless gone against the prevailing wisdom - since this is almost always lagging behind the actual market situation during these turning points).

If a seller made less than they first anticipated in this situation, they still have made an excellent deal. Several months later, those who declined these low offers would typically be thrilled to receive such an offer again. But it's too late.

In a downmarket, regardless of the price sellers are willing to sell for, the few buyers out there are only interested in the most desirable properties (location, location, location). If you have one of those, with an appropriate drop in price, it may get sold reasonably quickly. For those selling less desirable properties (ones that could nonetheless be sold easily, before the market turned) are typically out of luck and often end up sitting on them for months and months longer then they planned.

The Association of Danish Mortgage Banks, last week released figures claiming a 0.8 percent decline in housing prices in the Copenhagen area in the last quarter of 2006. That's not much. However, this doesn't tell the whole story.

Speaking again to my friend who sells real estate in Copenhagen, he noted that at present, sellers in Copenhagen are typically selling their apartments for at least 25% below the asking price. Given that until very recently sellers could expect to be able to sell their apartment or house for basically the asking price, the significant psychological shift necessary for a seller to accept this new situation is not necessarily an easy one to swallow. Not to mention the amount of money they thought they were going to get, but aren't.

The final mistaken assumption: the market will be turning around again soon, and once it does things will be back to 'normal'.

Wrong again. When the market turns, there is still a huge glut of unsold houses for sale. So it will take quite some time for the market to level out again. It takes a couple years for the average seller to feel any significant change once the market turns because asking prices will have fallen so dramatically over this time (even if selling prices, though lower now as well, are slowly recovering). The asking price is still typically closer to the amount they imagined they might get when the market turns, but most likely won't. Psychologically it's still a blow to end up with a lot less money than you expected.

The end result is sellers will have to accept a sales price much lower than their original expectations, long after the market has turned around. So in Copenhagen, buyers will remain in a much better position then they have been in the past several years for quite some time to come.

And that is why once a bubble pops, as it has in Copenhagen housing market, it really is gone.

by Tim Anderson (timothyanderson2005@gmail.com)

This is the second installment of a series of articles about life in Copenhagen, knowing that August is my last month living here for some time. The first one is Closing Time In Copenhagen (Part 1).

I look out the window of my apartment, down to the quiet cobblestone street below, feeling that where I am is a place distinctly Europe – old Europe, stereotypical Europe. In fact, where I live is not that old by such standards – the apartments around here are generally in the area of 100 years old, though there are certainly some that are much older. In certain respects, the ones on my street in Christianshavn even seem quite modern.



A friend of mine living right in the dead centre of town, no more than a 15 to 20 minute walk from my place (see how far that will take you in London) lives in a building nearly 200 years old that is built on 500 year old foundations. It looks it. Every now and then he asks me what I think the chances are that a building like that could suddenly become unstable – essentially crumble without much warning to a state beyond repair. He loves the place, but nonetheless has some genuine concern for the security of his investment - since he bought the apartment. I personally don’t think it is too likely to happen, but then again it’s not my bank loan on the line, so I'm probably not seeing it as he is. Why should I be worried?

There has been for sale signs in the windows of two apartments just across the street from ours for some time now – several months. Looking out at them just now, I see a sold sign has been pasted over one of them, though the other still remains. It’s about time. It has surprised me how long these two have been listed for sale since the housing market around here (all over Copenhagen) has been moving at more than a brisk pace. Rather, prices have been exploding over the past two years, and at a far greater rate than the official statistics suggest.

Various friends of mine, ones that had the good sense to buy an apartment at some point over the last years, have made more money during this time by selling their apartments or re-mortgaging them to take advantage of their increase in market value (and lower interest rates) then they have in salary. This is something endlessly frustrating for those not quite in a position to buy during this time (myself) or who (foolishly?) opted to rent and are now left pondering why they made this choice.

In fact, the housing market has been behaving in this manner for several years now, and shows few signs of stopping. The number of apartments available for sale in Copenhagen is at an all time low, as are interest rates (which at least makes loans more affordable than ever at the moment) which has consequently been driving prices up, up, up. Trying to find a decent place in central Copenhagen (that matches ones reasonable desires) on a first-or-second job after graduation type of salary is proving increasingly challenging.

Still, I know that this price appreciation simply cannot be sustained for that much longer – which does not at all mean that prices will suddenly drop. Of course they could – a few signs of greed are starting to show, always an ominous sign.

Just the other day, a story came out about a real estate agent who had been selling numerous contracts over the last months for reservations on apartments (over 100) in a new building development being finished shortly. She also happened to be one of the investors in the development. Because prices have shot up so dramatically since the reservations were first taken, the development board (of which she is a member) opted to (legally) cancel every one of them. In this way they could re-price the apartment units at a higher level – more money.

Such behaviour clearly strains the bonds of trust between client and customers, no question. On this scale where so many people are affected, it also suggests a brazen confidence, if not a possibly deluded overconfidence, in a market capable of producing an endless stream of customers willing to overlook such questionable tactics and accept whatever terms are on offer just for the chance to buy. Similar behaviour has lead to the demise of many a business in the past, even ones seemingly infallible, and it tends to reach it’s zenith just before an economic collapse of one sort or the other. Let’s see what happens.

The housing situation in Copenhagen is complex, to say the least, and not one that is easy for a foreigner to get a handle on.

On the more understandable side of things are the literally countless tens of thousands of generic two room apartments everywhere in the city. Somehow over the years, the layout of these apartments has come to be a sort of defacto-standard for what could be termed, ‘the two-room Copenhagen apartment’.

When one sees an advertisement with the words, ‘two room apartment’ accompanied by a measurement of around 50 to 60 sq metres, one can make a pretty solid guess at what the apartment looks like - a fair sized room at the front, a second smaller room for a bedroom looking out into the back garden, and beside this a small kitchen and tiny bathroom (with a shower practically hanging over the toilet and certainly no bathtub!).



All that remains is to ascertain the apartments precise location, how big are the windows are/how bright the apartment is, and if it needs painting.

Most apartments have accesss to a large shared garden out back for the up to 200 or more apartments overlooking it. This garden may be more or less sunny and usable, depending upon it's state of repair, and the amount of space between the buildings.

In the case of our most recent apartment, the back garden was just beautifully refurbished thanks to a government fund which is earmarked for such projects that footed the entire bill. Again, the wonders of living in a socialist country. At one end the buildings were quite close together, while at the other (our end) there was quite some space - which meant it was not as easy to watch what the neighbours were up to, something I always enjoy doing.




The monthly student (non-repayable) grants paid by the Danish government to all students in Denmark for up to six years of studies are perfect for renting one of these (or buying them as an andels apartment, which I will talk about shortly) with a friend, girlfriend or boyfriend – which is a very attractive proposition for a couple in love. Oftentimes, this is exactly what happens.

Moving into such a two-bedroom place is hardly a lifetime commitment, since they are certainly not big enough for very long once kids enter into the picture. Equally, it makes the process of splitting up and moving on, if it should ever come to that (and as statistics go, the odds are that it will) just as easy – they are highly sellable (or rentable). So there is a steady turnover of these places.

On the other side of things, is the peculiar form of ownership known in Danish as ‘andels’ apartments. There really isn’t an English equivalent (or translation) for this, so I will describe what they are instead. There are literally tens of thousands of these apartments all over Copenhagen (and the rest of Denmark).

These could loosely be described as collectively owned apartment blocks, each managed by an organisation that control the purchase and sales of the rights to live in the apartments within their block(s), and that decides the amount of the monthly rental-type fee that will be paid as well.

The thing is, the prices of the shares (ie. right to live) that one of these andels apartments gets bought and sold for by no means corresponds with their market value if they were being bought and sold on the private market. It is the board of each andels, consisting of residents living there, that dictate the prices for each. So the prices do move over time, just much more slowly than the market. As a rule, they are ludicrously cheaper to live in (by Copenhagen standards) often costing half as much as the monthly outlay for an equivalent privately owned apartment. If you’re lucky enough to get your hands on one. This is the other issue.

Without connections (typically close family, friends or work colleagues) or good foresight from your parents (more on this shortly), the waiting lists for these places range from 3 to 15 years. It’s a bit like playing a lottery that comes with a guarantee that you will win big eventually, at some indefinite point in your life, if you are willing (and able) to wait.

In many instances Danish parents put the children on an ‘inactive’ waiting list for one or more andels organisations when they are small, which means that when they are 18 and ready to move away from home, they will have the right to be put on the ‘active’ waiting list, which will typically be anywhere from 2 to 5 years long in itself. Eventually, they will begin to be offered the chance to purchase the rights to live in various andels apartments. One can only hope their parents have thought of doing this.

If all of this seems like it would be extremely bizarre for an outsider coming to live in the country to understand, it absolutely is.

The problem with this system as it stands is that it greatly distorts an already overheating housing market (pushing privately owned apartment prices up higher than they should be), while only offering benefits that can at best be described as unevenly dispersed. Because a board decides the purchase and sales prices of andels apartments, there is no free market operating here. And there are so many, many, many of them in Copenhagen, so it is an issue.

Rather, it could be suggested that this is an example of radical socialism at it’s most random. Regardless, it is a system that is unique, distinctly Danish, and has a significant influence on life in Copenhagen. No question about it. I don't expect that the housing market is something that I will miss very much when I leave.

But housing is hardly the only thing worth discussing, so read on. Coming shortly, Part 3.