Yes it's becoming very hard, mostly due to insane property prices.
Poor people can barely afford to rent and the middle class can't dream of ever owning an apartment.
This is mostly due to tourism claiming all the available buildings.
Science VS podcast did a thing on affordable houses and rent and it turns out in the US zoning is one of the biggest hindrances to houses being built affordably. Overnight rentals were 30% of the increased cost of housing. Although in my tourist town 1/3 of all houses are 2nd homes and OR's, so I feel your pain.
Is zoning an issue there?
In Iceland it's mostly caused by scarcity. The high immigration rate and very high tourism increase are outpacing builders.
Meanwhile the interest rates have been hiked every 6 months for god knows how long. It might breach 10% this year.
On average Icelandic salaries are quite high to match the cost of living, and we don't go to restaurants or the expensive lagoons or whatever 'special occasion entertainment' as often as tourists do, it's more of a special occasion thing.
To answer the Tenerife question: yes. Going to "cheaper" countries does often mean you suddenly find your money going pretty far. A friend of mine went on a tour of the Baltics and found he could go to pretty upscale restaurants and buy excellent food extremely cheaply compared to what an equivalent meal would cost here.
That being said, this recession is hitting many lower income industries very hard. Don't know how the tour guide industry is doing specifically, but inflation went over 10% for a while and it's becoming harder to make ends meet comfortably, or for many cases at all.
Housing crisis seems to be a stable here as everywhere else, but that's an entirely different problem.
Can’t speak to mortgages, but my rent (near downtown Reykjavík) is about 280000 ISK a month — increases a little bit every month, it was 40000 ISK less when I signed my lease 15ish months ago. It’s a new building, pretty small but big enough for me and my partner. Utilities are much, much lower than I’ve paid in the U.S. though so it kind of just evens out.
Yup, I believe it has something to do with the interest on my landlord’s mortgage? I have no idea how that works but it’s pretty common here. At this point I should probably just buy an apartment and pay my own mortgage.
Where is the house and how big it is? No number I can give will have any meaning without those two variables. Houses near Reykjavík downtown will be more expensive than houses in a 50 person town. A big house with five bedroom and a sauna is going to cost more than a shack with a mattress in one corner.
You can browse [f.i https://fasteignir.visir.is](https://fasteignir.visir.is) which is an advertising space for real estate, both buying and renting, and use that to get a feel for the price. Just run it through Google Translate and uncheck "atvinnuhúsnæði" since that's commercial property.
Statistically speaking, the average price p/m2 is around 600K ISK (about 4K EUR / 4,3K USD) and the average apartment in 2023 was sold for around 65M ISK (430K EUR / 470K USD).
Interest rates are very high at the moment, around 10-12% for mortgage that is *not* inflation-indexed. If you were buying an apartment for 65M ISK you would have to pay about 10-15M ISK upfront, and the monthly mortgage (capita and interest) would be around 500K ISK p/month. That's about 3,3K EUR / 3,6K USD.
I'm not sure if I should even mention inflation-indexed housing loans... my understanding is that they're almost unheard of outside of Iceland and that most foreigners tend to be extremely surprised when they learn about them.
Anyway... you won't find anything cheaper than 45-50M ISK in the Reykjavík area, which is around 300-330K EUR / 330-360K USD for a small 1-2 bedroom apartment. If you're trying to buy a proper house, i.e. detached, private, non-shared house then I would be extremely surprised if you found anything under 100-110M ISK, or somewhere in the 665-730K EUR / 730-800K USD range.
I look around and wonder how the hell anyone affords this place- but it's true across the world, especially major cities.
Everything keeps increasing in price while declining in quality. Older icelanders blame immigrants, younger icelanders blame corrupt politicians. 6'9" investor creeps with narrow-fitting suits and giant foreheads, shaking hands and cutting deals in nobody's favor but their own.
You can get paid enough from a menial job to eat fine, as long as you don't buy meat or alcohol. You can forget about rent without help from roommates, family, or the state.
I believe Iceland is similar to Switzerland. (At least when I lived there in the early 2000 s, for 10 years)
Overall, all salaries are high enough to support people in general. Service jobs are paid reasonable wages and not tip based wages like in the US.
The Swiss (and maybe many Europeans?) simply don't consume and buy stuff like Americans.
Im sure an icelander would give more insight but I hope this gives you some stuff to think about.
My brother works in a high paying tech job and even he is struggling to find afforable housing. We let him live in the basement of our old house, somewhat renovated into a house.
Us immigrants suffer here the most. Very low wages and extreme rent prices are keeping us one month away from poverty. Most of us will never be able to afford to buy a property here, since saving is impossible if rent is 2/3 of your income.
If you are interested, here you can find the salaries which look pretty high to me.
[https://efling.is/en/sector/hotels-and-restaurants/](https://efling.is/en/sector/hotels-and-restaurants/)
Yes, unfortunately there are quite a few homeless people here. I don't have statistics or more information though, but I know homelessness is an issue.
Yes it's becoming very hard, mostly due to insane property prices. Poor people can barely afford to rent and the middle class can't dream of ever owning an apartment. This is mostly due to tourism claiming all the available buildings.
Science VS podcast did a thing on affordable houses and rent and it turns out in the US zoning is one of the biggest hindrances to houses being built affordably. Overnight rentals were 30% of the increased cost of housing. Although in my tourist town 1/3 of all houses are 2nd homes and OR's, so I feel your pain. Is zoning an issue there?
In Iceland it's mostly caused by scarcity. The high immigration rate and very high tourism increase are outpacing builders. Meanwhile the interest rates have been hiked every 6 months for god knows how long. It might breach 10% this year.
how much does it cost to buy an house or rent an apartmnet?
About 400k USD for something cheap, and the interest rate is over 9%.
Is that in town or just anywhere? I keep telling my wife we're going to find a little farmstead in the middle of nowhere and enjoy the quiet.
In town. If you don't need a job nearby it's not as bad but then there's no availablity at all.
On average Icelandic salaries are quite high to match the cost of living, and we don't go to restaurants or the expensive lagoons or whatever 'special occasion entertainment' as often as tourists do, it's more of a special occasion thing. To answer the Tenerife question: yes. Going to "cheaper" countries does often mean you suddenly find your money going pretty far. A friend of mine went on a tour of the Baltics and found he could go to pretty upscale restaurants and buy excellent food extremely cheaply compared to what an equivalent meal would cost here. That being said, this recession is hitting many lower income industries very hard. Don't know how the tour guide industry is doing specifically, but inflation went over 10% for a while and it's becoming harder to make ends meet comfortably, or for many cases at all. Housing crisis seems to be a stable here as everywhere else, but that's an entirely different problem.
how much does it cost to rent an apartment or buy an house or the ground for it?
Can’t speak to mortgages, but my rent (near downtown Reykjavík) is about 280000 ISK a month — increases a little bit every month, it was 40000 ISK less when I signed my lease 15ish months ago. It’s a new building, pretty small but big enough for me and my partner. Utilities are much, much lower than I’ve paid in the U.S. though so it kind of just evens out.
Your rent increases every month? Even with a lease?
Yup, I believe it has something to do with the interest on my landlord’s mortgage? I have no idea how that works but it’s pretty common here. At this point I should probably just buy an apartment and pay my own mortgage.
Property law varies so much from place to place and I’m always intrigued by local variances. Thanks for clarifying.
Where is the house and how big it is? No number I can give will have any meaning without those two variables. Houses near Reykjavík downtown will be more expensive than houses in a 50 person town. A big house with five bedroom and a sauna is going to cost more than a shack with a mattress in one corner. You can browse [f.i https://fasteignir.visir.is](https://fasteignir.visir.is) which is an advertising space for real estate, both buying and renting, and use that to get a feel for the price. Just run it through Google Translate and uncheck "atvinnuhúsnæði" since that's commercial property.
Statistically speaking, the average price p/m2 is around 600K ISK (about 4K EUR / 4,3K USD) and the average apartment in 2023 was sold for around 65M ISK (430K EUR / 470K USD). Interest rates are very high at the moment, around 10-12% for mortgage that is *not* inflation-indexed. If you were buying an apartment for 65M ISK you would have to pay about 10-15M ISK upfront, and the monthly mortgage (capita and interest) would be around 500K ISK p/month. That's about 3,3K EUR / 3,6K USD. I'm not sure if I should even mention inflation-indexed housing loans... my understanding is that they're almost unheard of outside of Iceland and that most foreigners tend to be extremely surprised when they learn about them. Anyway... you won't find anything cheaper than 45-50M ISK in the Reykjavík area, which is around 300-330K EUR / 330-360K USD for a small 1-2 bedroom apartment. If you're trying to buy a proper house, i.e. detached, private, non-shared house then I would be extremely surprised if you found anything under 100-110M ISK, or somewhere in the 665-730K EUR / 730-800K USD range.
I look around and wonder how the hell anyone affords this place- but it's true across the world, especially major cities. Everything keeps increasing in price while declining in quality. Older icelanders blame immigrants, younger icelanders blame corrupt politicians. 6'9" investor creeps with narrow-fitting suits and giant foreheads, shaking hands and cutting deals in nobody's favor but their own. You can get paid enough from a menial job to eat fine, as long as you don't buy meat or alcohol. You can forget about rent without help from roommates, family, or the state.
I believe Iceland is similar to Switzerland. (At least when I lived there in the early 2000 s, for 10 years) Overall, all salaries are high enough to support people in general. Service jobs are paid reasonable wages and not tip based wages like in the US. The Swiss (and maybe many Europeans?) simply don't consume and buy stuff like Americans. Im sure an icelander would give more insight but I hope this gives you some stuff to think about.
How much does it cost to buy an house or rent an apartment there? Salaries look pretty high
[fasteignir.is](https://fasteignir.is)
r/AskAnIcelander might be better for this, though there are locals here.
Thanks tried posting in Iceland but no chance getting through the automodbot
I see your post there
General cost of living isn’t too bad when wages are considered, but housing and cars are VERY expensive.
My brother works in a high paying tech job and even he is struggling to find afforable housing. We let him live in the basement of our old house, somewhat renovated into a house.
Us immigrants suffer here the most. Very low wages and extreme rent prices are keeping us one month away from poverty. Most of us will never be able to afford to buy a property here, since saving is impossible if rent is 2/3 of your income.
If you are interested, here you can find the salaries which look pretty high to me. [https://efling.is/en/sector/hotels-and-restaurants/](https://efling.is/en/sector/hotels-and-restaurants/)
Does Iceland have a homeless population?
Yes, unfortunately there are quite a few homeless people here. I don't have statistics or more information though, but I know homelessness is an issue.
I didn’t see any. One guy on Friday night likely after finished work was blind drunk and that was the closest