What is a normal discount on a house in Denmark?
The average discount on houses in Denmark is about 5.5% of the asking price (Finans Danmark, 2025). The average time to sell a house at the end of 2025 was 139 days. The biggest discounts are in outlying municipalities with low demand, and North Jutland is one of them (boligvurderinger.dk, based on Finans Danmark and Dansk Byudvikling).
What it means in practice: a DKK 2,000,000 house × 5.5% = DKK 110,000. Asking for DKK 100,000 off a house that has been for sale for over 100 days is not cheeky. It is the national average. What is cheeky is turning up without arguments.
Boliga and Boligsiden show, for each area, the average gap between the last asking price and the sale price. That is a good starting point, but only a starting point: an area average says nothing about the specific house.
How much discount can you get on a house that has been for sale a long time?
We went through the sales documents of 77 houses in North Jutland (HUSDATA, October 2026). For 55 of them we found the history on Boliga:
- median time on the market: 79 days;
- 10 houses had been for sale for over six months, and all 10 had already cut their price.
The longer a house has been on the market, the stronger your position. Look at the listing history: when it was listed, how many times the price was cut, and whether it was relisted (which resets the day counter).
A house can be taken off the market and relisted to "reset" its days on the market. On the portal you see a "new" house that has actually been for sale for six months. Search for earlier listings at the same address in the history on Boligsiden or Boliga: the old dates and prices stay there.
What did the house sell for last time, and what has changed?
The most interesting part of the listing history is the previous sale. Boliga shows when and for how much the house was last bought. Then one simple question: what has changed since, apart from the price?
A made-up example: the house was bought in 2013 for DKK 600,000 and the asking price is now DKK 1,800,000, three times as much. Part of that rise is the market. But look at:
- The energy label: has it changed since? The same letter after a "major renovation" means the renovation was cosmetic.
- BBR and building permits: are new extensions, a new roof or new windows registered? Do-it-yourself work that is registered nowhere shows up neither in the tilstandsrapport, nor in the insurance, nor in the energy label.
- The seller's answers: "windows, bathroom and kitchen replaced", but with no years and no contractors. Ask for the invoices.
- The photos: fresh paint and the cheapest laminate over old problems is a pre-sale classic.
If the price has tripled while nothing documented has changed in the house, that is your negotiation argument.
Which errors in Danish sales documents are most common?
The sales documents of 77 houses (HUSDATA) contained many contradictions:
- asbestos: in 14 of 27 houses with an asbestos roof, the seller answered "no" to the asbestos question;
- BBR: the surveyor noted deviations from the building register in 39 of 76 houses, and in 29 there were buildings on the plot that are not in BBR;
- coastal zone: 28 of 77 listings did not mention the kystnærhedszone, although it applied to the house;
- expired reports: 17 of 74 condition reports had already expired when we downloaded the documents.
Every contradiction is a question for the agent, and often money in the negotiation.
Share of houses with the contradiction. Source: HUSDATA Nordjylland 2026, 77 houses for sale.
The strongest argument in a negotiation is often not a defect but a contradiction. "The bathroom is old" the seller treats as a matter of taste. "Your answers say there is no damp, but the surveyor gave a red item for damp" he treats as a risk that the next buyer will ask the same question. We look for contradictions between the listing, the report, the seller's answers and BBR in every BoligCheck.
What do typical red items in a tilstandsrapport cost?
In a separate detailed review of 62 condition reports, red items most often concerned:
| Part of the house | Houses with red | Cheap scenario | Expensive scenario |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bathroom and wet rooms (joints, membrane) | 47 of 62 | DKK 2,000-8,000: new joints and silicone | DKK 80,000-180,000: new bathroom |
| Roof | 32 of 62 | DKK 5,000-30,000: single sheets, flashing | DKK 300,000-470,000: new asbestos roof ~170 m² |
| Loft (ventilation, condensation) | 13 of 62 | DKK 10,000-40,000: ventilation, insulation | more if the rafters are damaged |
| Windows and doors | 13 of 62 | DKK 3,000-10,000: joints | tens of thousands: new windows |
| Pipes and water | 13 of 62 | a few thousand: local repair | tens of thousands: new section |
| Damp basement | rarer, but expensive | DKK 15,000-40,000: drying, draining water away | DKK 150,000-350,000: drain and damp-proofing |
Ranges are indicative, from our reviews and DI figures, not contractor quotes.
How it affects the negotiation: the seller will say the condition is already reflected in the price. So compare with sales of similar houses: if similar houses without these problems sold for the same price, the problem is not priced in. Then your argument is the cheap scenario as a minimum and the risk of the expensive one as grounds for a bigger discount.
Houses with at least one red item in that part. Source: detailed review of 62 reports, HUSDATA 2026.
Nobody counts the grey items ("minor damage") in a negotiation, because each one is small. But many reports in our data have 7-16 of them: joints around windows, gutters, paint on bargeboards. Together that is easily tens of thousands, and that money is yours in the first year.
A room in the listing is not always a legal bedroom. In 19 houses in our data there was a red item for a window you cannot escape through in a fire (redningsåbning). "4 rooms" and "3 legal bedrooms" mean a different price per m² and a different buyer in the future.
How do you check the neighbourhood before buying a house?
The house can be fine while the area is not. So look wider than the documents:
- How many similar houses are for sale right now, and how long they have been listed. If five identical houses on the street have been for sale for six months, you have a strong position now and a weak resale later.
- Hard-to-sell homes. In Nørresundby (Aalborg) we saw a new building where about 20 identical flats were for sale at the same time. Buying one is easy, selling it later is hard.
- A village that is emptying: school, shop, bus and jobs. That decides who will buy from you in 10 years.
- How prices have moved in the area, not just for this house.
None of this is in any document. It is analysis: putting documents, market and area into one picture.
How do you make an offer on a house in Denmark?
- Compare the price per m² with free-market sales of similar houses (build year ±5 years, size ±20%, no family sales).
- Add the documented repair costs from the reports.
- Start with a well-argued offer, not with "minus 10% for good measure".
- Make the offer with conditions: advokatforbehold (your lawyer's approval) and finansieringsforbehold (the bank's approval).
- Know your right to withdraw:
- before the seller signs, you can withdraw your offer for free;
- after the seller signs you have 6 working days (counted from the day the seller signs, including that day, excluding weekends and public holidays). You withdraw in writing to the seller or the agent, and it costs 1% of the price: DKK 20,000 on a DKK 2 million house;
- the advokatforbehold lets your lawyer reject the deal without that 1% and usually without giving a reason (Dokument24). That is why this clause should always be in.
Don't want to do the maths yourself? We do it for you: comparison with sales, repair prices and a ready opening offer with arguments in a BoligCheck.
Calculator: how much discount should you ask for?
Work out a well-argued opening offer
An illustration, not a valuation. Average discount 5.5% and average time on the market 139 days: Finans Danmark and Dansk Byudvikling, 2025.
The 6 working days of the right of withdrawal run from the seller's signature, not yours. If you signed an offer on impulse at a Sunday viewing, your days to think start as soon as the seller signs, even if you have not yet shown the documents to a lawyer.
Example
In our test analysis of a villa in Gug (Aalborg), the house had been on the market for 469 days. We made the test analysis before launch; it is not a customer case.
The point: you do not ask for a discount. You prove it with facts from the documents and the market.
What should you check before making an offer on a house?
- Listing history: date, price cuts, relisting.
- Previous sale: year, price and what has changed on paper since.
- 5 similar free-market sales: same area, similar build year and size.
- The area: how many similar homes are for sale, and for how long.
- Red and yellow items: cost in two scenarios.
- Roof age and material: asbestos means a big future cost.
- Validity of the tilstandsrapport: 6 months.
- Conditions in the offer: lawyer and bank.
My view
Most buyers negotiate blind: they name a round number and wait. The agent sees it immediately and replies "the seller is not ready for that". An offer with figures from the documents and from real sales sounds different, and the agent passes it to the seller differently. In our test analyses, the strongest negotiation arguments are not in the listing but in the documents few people read to the end.
Yurii Khlivnenko, founder of NordIndsigt
On your own or with us?
You can negotiate on your own. The listing history on Boliga is free, so are the reports, and 70 pages of Danish can be managed over a few evenings. The hard part is comparing: you are looking at your third house, we have seen the documents of hundreds and know what discount is realistic here. And when you fall for a house, you negotiate more softly than you should, while a house you dislike gets judged too harshly. We do not care which house you buy. With us you go into the negotiation with numbers within 24-48 hours, in your language.
In short
Do not ask "what is a normal discount?". Ask: "how long has this house been for sale, what did similar houses sell for, and what in the documents costs money?".
Want to know how much you can negotiate off this house?
BoligCheck compares the price with real sales nearby, works out what in the documents costs money and gives you an opening offer with arguments.
Order BoligCheck, DKK 299Frequently asked questions
What is a normal discount on a house in Denmark?
The average discount on houses in Denmark is about 5.5% of the asking price (Finans Danmark, 2025). The average time to sell a house at the end of 2025 was 139 days. The biggest discounts are in outlying municipalities with low demand, and North Jutland is one of them (boligvurderinger.dk, based on Finans Danmark and Dansk Byudvikling).
How much discount can you get on a house that has been for sale a long time?
We went through the sales documents of 77 houses in North Jutland (HUSDATA, October 2026). For 55 of them we found the history on Boliga:
What did the house sell for last time, and what has changed?
The most interesting part of the listing history is the previous sale. Boliga shows when and for how much the house was last bought. Then one simple question: what has changed since, apart from the price?
Which errors in Danish sales documents are most common?
The sales documents of 77 houses (HUSDATA) contained many contradictions:
What do typical red items in a tilstandsrapport cost?
In a separate detailed review of 62 condition reports, red items most often concerned:
How do you check the neighbourhood before buying a house?
The house can be fine while the area is not. So look wider than the documents:
