What does it cost to own a home? Owner expenses, energy label and radon

The fixed monthly cost of owning a home is the sum of owner expenses (ejerudgifter): land tax (grundskyld) + property value tax (ejendomsværdiskat) + buildings insurance + contributions to the owner, land or cooperative association. It is the figure you pay every month no matter what, on top of the loan and on top of your consumption of heat, water and electricity. The listing’s “owner expense per month” covers precisely these items, and this is where many are surprised: two homes priced the same can cost several thousand kroner more or less to own, because land tax and heating cost vary sharply.

Here we go through the three things that really decide your monthly cost once the loan is taken out: the owner expenses, the energy label (energimærke) (which controls the heating bill) and radon (which can cost you your health and an unexpected bill).

Owner expenses: what they cover, and what they do not

Owner expenses (ejerudgifter) are the fixed running costs of owning the home, calculated without the loan and without your personal consumption. The four main items are:

Item	What it is	Who sets it
Land tax (grundskyld)	Municipal tax on the land’s value	The municipality (per mille)
Property value tax (ejendomsværdiskat)	State tax on the home’s value	The state (5.1‰ / 14‰)
Buildings insurance	Buildings and possibly change-of-ownership insurance	Insurance company
Association	Shared expenses or land-owners’ association	The association

Be aware that the “owner expense” in a listing does not include your loan repayments and not your consumption either (heat, water, electricity, internet). The real total housing cost is the owner expenses + the repayment on your mortgage loan (realkreditlån) + consumption. When you compare two homes, compare the owner expenses item by item, not just the total advertised figure.

Land tax and property value tax after the 2024 reform

From 2024 onwards, both taxes are calculated on 80% of the public valuation. The 80% is called the prudence principle and is a reduction set by law, so a temporarily high valuation estimate does not feed fully into your bill.

• Property value tax (2026): 5.1 per mille of the taxation base up to DKK 9,007,000, and 14 per mille of the part above that.
• Land tax: a municipal per mille of the land value. It varies from municipality to municipality, so two identical houses in neighbouring municipalities can have markedly different land tax.

To dampen sudden increases there is an increase cap on the land tax of 4.75% per year. There is also a tax rebate, but only for owners who owned the home before 1 January 2024. If you buy now, you do not get the rebate, and a seller’s rebate lapses on sale. So always calculate with the full tax at your own time of purchase, not the seller’s historical figures.

The energy label controls your heating cost

The energy label (energimærke) goes from A2020 (best) down to G and tells you how much energy the home is expected to use. It is the single factor that most directly translates into your heating bill. A home with energy label G can have a heating cost that is many times higher than a comparable A2020 home, and the difference hits you every single month.

The energy label is mandatory at sale, and it is valid for 10 years. Use it actively:

• Read the label’s suggestions. The energy label lists concrete improvements (extra insulation, windows, heat pump) with an estimated saving and payback time.
• Add the heating cost on top of the owner expenses. A low asking price can hide a high heating bill. A poor label does not mean “avoid the home”, but it must be part of your monthly calculation and your negotiation.
• Check the heating system. District heating, heat pump, gas or oil give widely different running costs for the same label.

Radon: reference level 100 Bq/m³

Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that seeps up from the ground and can build up in the home’s indoor climate. The Danish Health Authority’s (Sundhedsstyrelsen) reference level is 100 Bq/m³. That is the threshold you must consider:

• Below 100 Bq/m³: no action necessary.
• 100-200 Bq/m³: light, cheap measures recommended (better ventilation, sealing of leaks against the ground).
• Above 200 Bq/m³: effective measures recommended (radon sump, mechanical ventilation), which are more expensive.

The radon level depends on the soil and the building’s tightness against the ground, and it rarely appears in the listing. A measurement over a winter period is the only way to know. Ask the seller whether it has been measured, and budget for a possible measure if the house lies in an area with known radon or has a ground-bearing slab and basement.

Add it up to one monthly figure

The figure you really need to be able to carry each month is:

Component	Included in owner expense?
Land tax	Yes
Property value tax	Yes
Buildings insurance	Yes
Association / shared expenses	Yes
Loan repayment (interest + principal + contribution rate (bidragssats))	No, add it on
Heating (controlled by the energy label)	No, add it on
Water, electricity, internet	No, add it on
Radon measure (one-off cost)	No, budget separately

Once you have added all the lines together, you have the real cost of owning, and it is almost always higher than the “owner expense per month” in the listing. This is not to make you nervous, but to give you a figure you can rely on before you bid.

To assess whether you can afford the total repayment, see our guide on mortgage loan, down payment and debt factor. And for the taxes that are part of the owner expense, see property tax after the 2024 reform.