FINN.no Accused of Abusing Market Leadership by Norwegian Association of Realtors

FINN.no, the market-leading horizontal marketplace in Norway, has been accused by the Norwegian Association of Real Estate Agents (NEF) of abusing its dominant market position by making unfair demands on agents and brokers.

Referencing variable pricing packages and unfair terms of agreement, an NEF statement penned by CEO Carl Geving calls for closer scrutiny of FINN's behaviour.

Geving said:

"According to an investor presentation from Schibsted Marketplaces, FINN's revenue per advertisement has doubled, from an average of NOK 2,300 in 2021 to NOK 4,700 in 2024.

"The unfair market conditions and the increased attention surrounding FINN's practices have triggered competition. In the spring of 2024, hjem.no was launched.

"Paradoxically, FINN responded by increasing prices further. Brokerage chains report that the price of the smallest advertising package has increased by over 700 percent – despite the fact that the product is practically unchanged. This appears to be a deliberate move to prevent hjem.no from establishing itself in the market.

"In addition, FINN has introduced a variable pricing model, which will make advertising even more expensive. According to the same investor presentation, the goal is for this model to become a powerful new source of revenue for FINN.

"As if that were not enough, FINN has attempted to introduce new terms of agreement that, among other things, require brokers to give FINN employees physical access to the brokerage offices, and that brokers must inform home sellers of which advertising package has been chosen – as well as justify why they may not recommend the largest and most expensive package. Such a practice is of course unacceptable and contrary to the real estate agent's role and responsibility under the Real Estate Act.

"FINN allows this behavior because they have a dominant position in the market. At NEF, we are still surprised at how far FINN is willing to go to control the advertising market.

"The Real Estate Brokerage Act states that real estate transactions through brokers must be carried out in a cost-effective manner. Therefore, there is a strong cost focus in the industry. We cannot accept that individual players abuse their market power to push up transaction costs. NEF will continue to follow FINN's market practices closely."

Geving went on to accuse FINN of inflating its traffic figures to justify further price increases.

FINN is owned by Vend, formerly Schibsted Marketplaces, with CEO Christian Halvorsen recently telling Online Marketplaces that FINN is a highly dominant marketplace business in the same vein as Hemnet in neighbouring Sweden.

Kjersti Høklingen, EVP real estate at Vend Marketplaces, told the AIM Group:

“We’re surprised to see the issue of traffic numbers brought up again. We strongly disagree with the claim that we have inflated our figures. Our goal is and has always been to give real estate agents and users valuable insights, and our methodology has been consistent and transparent for nine years.”

“We have a good and ongoing dialogue with both users and agents, and we value feedback from the real estate industry and NEF. Based on this, we will continue to make further improvements to how key figures are labeled and explained."

FINN previously received pushback from the industry in the form of the portal Hjem, which launched as an agent-backed challenger in spring 2024. The venture has been backed by several leading brokerages in Norway. However, the business appears to be struggling financially and recorded an EBITDA loss of €4 million at a margin of -89% in its Q1 financial results, from a revenue of €4.6 million.