It is estimated that around ten thousand apartments are empty in Iceland
In the construction market, over 3,400 newly built apartments have been put into use this year throughout the country. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
Around ten thousand apartments in the country are empty, according to a conservative estimate by the Housing and Public Works Agency (HMS), about 6.5% of all completed apartments. Of these, around 2,500 are in Reykjavík, or 4.5% of all completed apartments in the city.
The percentage of empty apartments is between 15 and 20% in Múlaþing, Skagafjörður, Ísafjörður, and Borgarbyggð, and in Akureyri just over 10%.
The percentage of empty apartments is higher in the countryside than in the capital area. It is generally low in the southwest corner of the country if Grindavík is not taken into account. The percentage of empty apartments in Reykjanesbær is under half a percent, which is the lowest percentage in the country. This is followed by Mosfellsbær (1%), Hafnarfjörður (2%) and Kópavogur (3%).
This is stated in the monthly report of the HMS. The agency bases its above-mentioned assessment on information from the property register, together with legal domicile registrations from the National Register of Iceland and information on active leases in the Rent Register.
This is the first time that the HMS has estimated the number of empty apartments in this way. Therefore, the figures should be taken with caution, as they may change with improved registration of apartments or changed counting methods.
Percentage of empty apartments in each municipality
Never before have there been more apartments for sale
The turnover in the real estate market has been considerable compared to the winter season. However, the supply of apartments for sale has increased rapidly in recent months and there have never been more apartments for sale in the capital area since the beginning of the measurements, or more than 2,500.
There have been fewer sales and purchases of apartments in the vicinity of the capital area as the Grindavík effect has faded.
Demand is decreasing
Then the median rental price increased by 13% above the second price level between November 2024 and 2023. The price of small rental apartments spans a larger gap than before, which is in line with the widening gap between market rent and apartments that are not operated on profit grounds.
Demand also appears to be decreasing in the rental market according to figures from the website Myigloo.is. There has been a decrease in the number of active seekers per contract.
In the credit market, outstanding household mortgage loans were 7% higher at the end of October than at the same time last year. This is equivalent to a 1.8% increase in total loans after taking inflation into account.
Construction completed earlier than expected
More than 3,400 newly built apartments have been put into use this year, which is more than the HMS had predicted in its September census. It seems that contractors have placed increased emphasis on completing projects that had been started instead of starting new ones.
