Norwegian investor Magnus Halvorsen has bought a seafront property on the island of Hvasser for NOK 59.5 million. A recent land registry entry shows that he and his wife, Julie Ba Flaaten Halvorsen, acquired the two adjoining plots at Nordhavna 10 and 11 in Færder municipality, according to E24.
The seller is Inge Ekker Bartnes, a lawyer and former partner at the law firm Wiersholm who joined Hafslund as a senior adviser earlier this year. Business daily DN reported that the property was never offered on the open market. Daniel Shahabi of Eiendomsmegler 1 Sør-Norge, the agent on the deal, kept his remarks brief, saying both seller and buyer “are satisfied” and declining to add more. The broker gave no details on how the sale came about or how long talks had lasted.
Halvorsen made his money through share investments and through his work with shipping investor Tor Olav Trøim at the dry bulk company 2020 Bulkers. His investment vehicle, MH Capital, reported its strongest year on record in 2025. The couple each own half of the company, although Halvorsen keeps control of it through a single A-share that carries the voting rights. Land registry records list both spouses as buyers of the Hvasser plots.
The purchase ranks among the most expensive holiday home deals in Norway this year, but it falls well short of the record. Earlier in 2026 a property on Risholmen in Fredrikstad changed hands for NOK 136 million, the highest price ever paid for such a property in the country, and a home on Hankø sold for NOK 82 million soon after. Færder, which takes in Tjøme and Hvasser, has the highest average prices of any holiday home municipality at about NOK 10.7 million, ahead of Lillesand at NOK 7.9 million.
The top end of the market stands apart from a broader slowdown. Data from Finn shows 595 seaside cabins were sold between 1 June and 10 August, close to half the 1,034 sold over the same period in the peak year of 2020, and two out of three went for less than their last advertised price. Eiendom Norge counted 1,098 waterfront holiday homes sold in the first half of 2026 at an average of just over NOK 3.5 million, down 5.4 per cent on a year earlier, with final prices averaging 1.6 per cent below asking.
