and hotel and restaurant sectors increased markedly. in the first quarter of this year, total lending to these sectors was nok 440 billion, an increase of close to nok 73 billion compared with the same quarter last year. the value of shop premises has risen more than the value of office premises since the mid - 1990s, and more in line with the rise in the housing market. developments in the value of office premises in norway have tracked developments in a number of other european countries. office premises have a dominant role as investment vehicles and are therefore most important for the commercial property market as a whole. investment in new commercial properties partly depends on developments in rental rates and the number of vacant premises. developments in rental rates for office premises in norwegian cities over the past twenty years appear to have been fairly uniform, with very high rates at the end of the 1980s, followed by a marked negative correction towards the mid - 1990s. rental rates then rose considerably up to the end of the century, followed by another downward correction. stavanger seems to have experienced a relatively even rise in real terms throughout the period. rental rates in trondheim and bergen seem to have had a less pronounced peak at the end of the century than oslo, while rental rates in tromsø have been relatively stable since 1992. last year rental prices for office premises began to pick up in several norwegian cities. there is considerable variation within the various quality and location segments. the prestigious segment in central business areas shows the highest rise in prices, while rental prices in some less attractive areas have remained virtually unchanged. during the cyclical peak between 1997 and 2001, only 4 per cent of the office premises in oslo were vacant. more moderate economic growth in 2002 and 2003 contributed to a fairly sharp rise in the vacancy rate. over the past two years, the rate has fallen again. at 8 per cent, the vacancy rate is still relatively high, although in some central areas, it has fallen to below 4 per cent. the share of vacant office premises in bergen has been lower than in oslo for the past three years. the value of property has increased, both in norway and in other countries, even though the rise in rental rates has been moderate and the vacancy rate has been high. investors have been willing to pay more than previously for a krone, a dollar or a euro in future net rental income. the direct return, i. e. annual rental income minus operating costs as a share of the price paid for the property, for office premises

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