The garden association Frederikshøj in Sydhavnen offers itself as an oasis in the city. Close to green areas and in an almost therapeutic silence, just a few kilometers from downtown Copenhagen.
Here, houses can be sold in the blink of an eye. At prices between 4 and 7 million kroner. But that doesn’t happen. Because even though the former allotment gardens have long since become year-round residences, they are traded at artificially low prices. And reserved for the residents’ own family members, friends, and acquaintances.
And this is despite the fact that the land, where the 200 attractive year-round garden houses are placed, is owned by the Municipality of Copenhagen and its citizens. A closed housing market on some of Denmark’s most expensive square meters, and this has been the case for years without any objections.
Until now, when the interest in allotment gardens has shed light on a number of former allotment garden associations primarily located in Sydhavnen.
Here, the municipality has granted year-round residence status to nearly 400 allotment gardens, as described in Politiken. Primarily with the reasoning that people were living there illegally anyway and had been doing so for decades.
Copenhagen’s mayor of employment and integration Jens-Kristian Lütken (Venstre, V) openly admits that he has never heard of the conditions in Frederikshøj – even though the garden association resides on municipal land.
»It’s neither fair nor okay to use municipal land to create a closed housing market for family members. This system excludes ordinary citizens of Copenhagen and benefits a very small group of garden owners. There’s no fairness in that«, he says.
Mayor of children and youth Jakob Næsager (Konservative, K) calls the model in Frederikshøj »a closed party«.
»It’s not fair that by being part of a certain community or having the right friends, one can access housing far below market prices on municipal land. It greatly surprises me that this is a practice the municipality has accepted«.
»Municipal land is part of the community’s values, and it shouldn’t solely benefit a select few«, says Jakob Næsager.
Family first in line
In Frederikshøj, the board does not wish to disclose the price range of the garden homes themselves. Therefore, Politiken asked Boligsiden to review all registered transactions in the garden association since 2020.
On that list, there are 10 houses. They measure between 85 and 122 square meters. For 7 of them, the registered sale price was under 700,000 kroner. The cheapest house was traded for 30,000 kroner during Christmas 2023.
The unusually low prices are a consequence of Frederikshøj’s decision to scrap free price formation and replace it with a so-called ’valuation committee’. It is the committee members who ultimately determine the sale price. And this is done according to the bylaws, based on potential home improvements and the individual houses’ age and condition. This is notably done without considering what such properties cost on the free housing market.
Once the price is set, the home can be offered to the owner’s immediate family and siblings in a first round. In the next round, there is the possibility to swap houses with other residents in the association. Then, an internal waiting list is activated, reserved for the owners in the association and their adult children. The children remain on the internal list even if they move out of the garden association.
Only in the fourth round outsiders get a chance on an external waiting list.
This model is in stark contrast to the approach in the garden association right next to Frederikshøj called Havebyen Mozart. Like Frederikshøj, it was approved for year-round residence via a local plan in 2008. The two garden associations share a parcel, and it can be difficult to see where one association stops and the other begins.
But in Havebyen Mozart, the former allotment garden owners have chosen to sell the houses in free trade. This has given the residents million-dollar gains, a similar review of the last four years’ registered transactions shows.
It shows that the most expensive property in Mozart has been sold for nearly 7 million kroner.
The general picture is that the square meter price is eight times higher in Mozart compared to Frederikshøj. 47,857 kroner per square meter in Mozart and 5,468 kroner in Frederikshøj.
At least when excluding two specific Frederikshøj houses whose transaction history stands out markedly. According to registrations, they have been sold 12 times since 2020 at an average of 23,636 kroner per square meter. In some cases, within a few days and at both high and low prices.
»One can at least note that there are clear differences in prices between the two garden associations«, says Boligsiden’s communications director, Birgit C. Daetz.
While Frederikshøj’s board, as mentioned, does not wish to participate itself, it refers to lawyer Knud Foldschack, who confirms that the association’s houses are deliberately priced lower than what they could fetch in free trade.
This is to keep prices down, avoid speculative gains, and prevent anyone from »making a fortune from selling their home«, as he puts it. And the thought is »beautiful«, believes Knud Foldschack.
Housing economist: An absurdity
He simultaneously admits that with a valuation committee, targeted sales to children and siblings, internal swaps, and internal and external waiting lists results in the homes being traded within a very small circle.
»When there are such large values, and one has a property worth x million kroner, and in reality worth y million kroner, one will do everything possible, out of understandable reasons, to say: Well, isn’t it unfortunate that one cannot benefit their children?«, explains Knud Foldschack.
In an email, Foldschack’s office states that there is generally great »resident satisfaction« in Frederikshøj.
But at The Knowledge Centre for Housing Economics, director Curt Liliegreen calls Frederikshøj an absurdity in the Copenhagen housing market:
»Sooner or later, politicians will have to acknowledge that this area has become too peculiar. One should remember that if the municipality took back the lands where allotment gardens or former allotment gardens have been established, one could probably build many more homes on them, and there is a great need for that in Copenhagen«, he says.
Frederikshøj is not the only garden association where residents find it most appropriate to have a price cap and pass them down among family members, friends, and neighbors.
Politiken has previously described how another association of homeowners in Sydhavnen, Haveforeningen Kalvebod, is set to be allowed year-round residence via a local plan, just like in Frederikshøj and Mozart.
If the local plan is approved, it can raise the sales prices of the houses by millions of kroner.
Kalvebod has also capped prices. Following almost the same model as Frederikshøj. And although the system has been up for discussion according to minutes from the association’s general meetings, Kalvebod intends to continue with this model for now, according to Politiken’s information.
Silent mayors
As the lawyer for the residents of the five former allotment garden associations that have gained year-round status on municipal land, Knud Foldschack believes it has been legal to live year-round in these garden associations since the 1980s. And this should be considered in the assessment of the case, he believes.
»Regarding property sales, I consider it entirely normal that there is an option to sell one’s property to family. This is also the case with regular properties around the country«, he says.
Neither the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Lars Weiss (Socialdemokratiet, S) nor mayor of technique and environment Line Barfod (Enhedslisten, EL) wish to comment on the matter.
Director at The Knowledge Centre for Housing Economics Curt Liliegreen believes the allotment garden area has developed into a »pseudo-housing market«:
»When I look across the country and see rural areas where people have properties that are impossible to sell and compare it with Copenhagen, where the municipality gives away quite significant financial gains to people who originally owned a small allotment garden by reinterpreting some rules, it seems to me that the housing market has gone off the rails«.
