First-time buyers reach 19-year high share of property deals

First-time buyers accounted for more than 36% of registered property purchase agreements in Iceland during the first half of the year, the highest share in 19 years outside the pandemic, according to mbl.is.

The figures come from the Housing and Construction Authority, which will examine the development in more detail in its September report. Despite the high proportion, the number of first-time buyers has fallen from recent years, partly because overall activity in the property market has declined.

Since the beginning of 2007, first-time buyers have accounted for an average of 32% of all property purchase agreements. The share rose above 36% during the first half of this year and reached 37% when measured over the past six months.

A similar share was recorded only during the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, when first-time buyers also accounted for 37% of all purchase agreements. Their share was particularly low after the financial crash in 2009 and again in 2024, when Þórkatla bought a large number of properties in Grindavík.

First-time buyers were involved in 1,762 purchase agreements during the first half of this year. That was below the average for the past decade, when there were about 1,900 such agreements in each half-year between 2016 and 2025.

The difference was even greater compared with 2020 and 2021, when interest rates were at their lowest. First-time buyers were involved in about 2,870 purchase agreements in each half-year during that period, more than twice the number recorded in the first half of this year.