A death-defying detail is making homebuyers think twice

A one-bedroom apartment in the Norwegian capital of Oslo is raising eyebrows thanks to a trapdoor beside the bed. 

The hatch opens onto a steep staircase that leads down to the kitchen. 

When closed, it becomes a seamless part of the floor, providing access to a set of built-in cupboards. 

It may be an efficient use of space, but many people are raising concerns about the possibility of forgetting to close the hatch and then falling out in the middle of the night. 

“Great use of compact space, but yeah, I’d be falling down through the hatch immediately,” said one commenter on the Reddit thread r/zillowgonewild. 

“Half a million and I’ll die if I roll out of bed? The housing market is such a joke right now,” another user wrote. 

Meanwhile, another joked they would “smash my head on the skylight before I even fell through the hatch.” 

The one-bedroom flat is on the market for 4,500,000 Norwegian kroner, which is equivalent to $AU616,000. 

Aside from the hair-raising bedroom trapdoor, the apartment could make a pretty, cleverly-designed home for a single buyer or young couple. 

Attractive tongue-in-groove panelling lines the walls, and large windows bring in plenty of light. 

The kitchen has pleasant treetop views, and the living room comes with a cosy wood-burning stove for the chilly Scandinavian winters. 

The agents are Haakon Telle Bøe and Jonas Johansson Dahlén from Nordvik St.Hanshaugen real estate.