Young buyers boost Høje-Taastrup as Lemvig struggles to attract residents
Thursday 8th October 2026 on 09:15 in
Denmark
Young couples are driving strong housing demand in Høje-Taastrup, while the western municipality of Lemvig struggles to attract new residents, DR reports. The contrast reflects a wider challenge for municipalities outside the biggest cities: fewer working-age residents can put pressure on local budgets.
Naja Zarp, 29, and Alex Fausild, 30, have been searching for a home they can own together after failing to find one in the Copenhagen suburbs of Bagsværd and Gladsaxe. They are now looking in Hedehusene, in Høje-Taastrup Municipality, where a new neighbourhood is being built for 8,000 residents.
The couple currently live in an apartment in Hillerød and want a larger home closer to Copenhagen. A 107-square-metre townhouse listed for 4.2 million kroner had already received an offer when they viewed it.
“It’s moving incredibly fast,” said Jan Isaksen, a real estate agent who owns offices in Taastrup and Hedehusene. He and his colleagues sold 257 homes in the first nine months of the year. He said many of their customers come from Copenhagen, drawn by lower prices and access to the capital. Høje-Taastrup is just over 20 kilometres from Copenhagen City Hall Square, and the train journey to Copenhagen Central Station takes 14 minutes.
In Lemvig, real estate agent Rune Kamedula said he had met only three couples in the past three months who were considering moving to the municipality or had found jobs there. A move-in-ready house in one of Lemvig’s better neighbourhoods was priced at 1.9 million kroner, but had been on the market for more than a year.
Lemvig has seen the number of working-age residents fall by 8.5 per cent over the past six years, the steepest decline apart from island municipalities. In the same period, the working-age population in Høje-Taastrup grew by 23.4 per cent.
Kamedula said Lemvig needs families to buy homes and fill its kindergartens and school classes, as well as workers for local businesses. He said the municipality’s distance from a motorway, about 35 minutes, was a challenge.