Property Risk Data in Norway: The Public Sources Insurers Can Use

Key points

• Norway publishes a large amount of property and hazard data, but it sits with different agencies, in different formats and under different terms.
• Kartverket holds the building and property registers. NVE and NGU hold most of the natural hazard and ground data. DSB, SSB, Enova and Norsk Naturskadepool add fire, building, energy and claims data.
• Much of it is free to view, but the terms for reuse differ. Some data does not allow commercial use, and some needs a legal basis or a login.
• Many datasets are screening maps, made to show where to look closer, not to give a final answer for a single building.
• The most useful habit is to record the source and date of every value, and to treat a missing value as missing.

Take one address in Norway. Before anyone visits, public data can say which building it is, what type of building it is, whether the plot lies in a flood or quick-clay awareness area, what the ground beneath it is made of and how radon-prone the area is. None of that requires a survey. All of it requires knowing where to look.

This guide lists the main public sources, what each one holds, how you can access it, and where it stops.

Which agencies hold property risk data in Norway?

What does Matrikkelen tell you about a building?

Matrikkelen is Norway's official register of properties, addresses and buildings. Kartverket runs it and the municipalities keep it up to date. For a property insurer it is the starting point, because it ties an address to a specific building through the building number.

The openly available building data is fairly basic: the building number, building type and status, and its location. The full register can hold more, such as dates in the building's life and its area, but those fields are not always filled in, and access to them is more restricted.

Gaps are common. Not every building has every field filled in, and older buildings in particular can be thinly recorded. A missing date is not the same as a confirmed one. A good process shows the gap instead of filling it with a guess.

Access matters too. Kartverket's products come under different licences, and some do not allow commercial use. Fuller building-level data for businesses needs a legal basis. Check the terms for each product with Kartverket before building it into a process.

What do NVE and NGU add?

NVE and NGU describe the ground and the hazards around a building.

NVE publishes Norway's main natural hazard maps. They include a national map of flood awareness areas, more detailed flood zone maps for mapped river stretches, quick-clay maps, and landslide and avalanche mapping. Its national quick-clay awareness map was published in 2024 for screening, and NVE says it should be used together with the more detailed quick-clay hazard zone maps.

NGU publishes the geology behind several of those maps. Its maps of loose deposits and of the marine limit show where marine clay can occur, which is where quick clay can form. NGU also publishes, with DSA, the national radon awareness map, and holds data on ground investigations and groundwater.

Our companion guide explains what these hazard maps show and what they do not.

What about fire, energy and claims data?

Three further sources help with context.

DSB publishes fire statistics, including fire deaths. Since 2022 it has also published data on natural and water damage, based on reports from insurers.

Energy certificates show a building's energy rating. A certificate is required when a home or building is sold, rented or newly built, and is valid for up to 10 years. Certificate data is not openly published today: access is limited to the owner, authorised parties and anonymised statistics. Wider access has been proposed but not yet introduced.

Norsk Naturskadepool publishes claims statistics for natural damage across the market. Its 2025 annual report records about 30,000 natural damage claims, with an estimated cost of NOK 2.9 billion, including claims not yet reported. The scheme covers buildings, contents, machinery and installations.

In Norway, cover for natural perils such as flood and landslide is included in fire insurance by law, and the costs are shared between insurers through Norsk Naturskadepool. Hazard data is still useful to an insurer: for prevention advice, claims handling, an overview of exposure, and the perils it covers on its own terms, such as water damage.

What are the limits of public property data?

Public data is a strong starting point, but it has four limits worth knowing.

Many maps are for screening. An awareness map shows where a hazard may exist and where a closer look is needed. It is not a final assessment of a single building.

Coverage varies. Detailed maps exist for some areas and not for others. National screening maps fill the gaps at a coarser scale.

Records can be incomplete or out of date. Registers depend on what was reported and when.

Terms differ by dataset. Some data is open, some does not allow commercial use, some needs a login, and some needs a legal basis. Check the licence and access terms for each dataset before building it into a process.

What makes public property data useful in practice?

The value comes from combining the sources and knowing where each value came from. A few principles help.

• Anchor everything to the building. The building number in Matrikkelen is the common key that other data can be linked to.
• Keep the source and date with every value. Registers and maps change, so a value without its origin cannot be checked later.
• Treat a gap as a gap. A missing value should stay visible, not be filled with an estimate.
• Know which layers are screening. An awareness map is a prompt for a closer look, not an answer.
• Check the terms first. Confirm the licence and legal basis for each dataset before it becomes part of a process.

That is the problem Dversi is built for. Dversi is the intelligence layer for an insurer's business systems. It brings public and commercial data into one view and shows every value with its source and date.

Bringing public property data into your business systems and want every value to show its source? Talk to the Dversi team →

Sources

• Kartverket, property data (eiendomsdata): https://www.kartverket.no/api-og-data/eiendomsdata
• Kartverket, terms of use (vilkår for bruk): https://www.kartverket.no/api-og-data/vilkar-for-bruk
• Kartverket, property (eiendom) and Grunnboken: https://www.kartverket.no/eiendom
• Geonorge, Det offentlige kartgrunnlaget: https://www.geonorge.no/Geodataarbeid/det-offentlige-kartgrunnlaget/
• NVE, flood and landslide hazard in your municipality: https://www.nve.no/naturfare/utredning-av-naturfare/flom-og-skredfare-i-din-kommune/
• NVE, quick-clay awareness map (data.norge.no): https://data.norge.no/en/datasets/55358225-fedc-3287-8086-9d49b90ee6c2/aktsomhetskart-for-kvikkleireskred
• NGU, quick clay: https://www.ngu.no/geologi-og-risiko/kvikkleire
• NGU, radon awareness product sheet: https://register.geonorge.no/data/documents/produktark_radon-aktsomhet_v3_produktark-radonaktsomhet-ngu_.pdf
• DSB, natural and water damage data from insurers: https://www.dsb.no/siteassets/statistikk/natur--og-vannskader-fra-forsikringsselskap.pdf
• DSB, statistics: https://www.dsb.no/statistikk/
• SSB, licence: https://www.ssb.no/diverse/lisens
• NVE, energy labelling of homes and buildings: https://www.nve.no/energi/virkemidler/energimerking-av-boliger-og-bygninger-og-energivurdering-av-varme-og-klimaanlegg/
• Norsk Naturskadepool, annual report 2025: https://res.cloudinary.com/forsikringsdrift/image/upload/%C3%85rsrapport-2025-Norsk-naturskadepool.pdf