19-year-old buys Reykjavik flat but cannot afford to live there

Jana Guðrún Jahzara bought her first apartment in Reykjavik at 19, after saving 10 million Icelandic krónur for a down payment, but she rents it out because she cannot afford to live there, mbl.is reports.

Jahzara told mbl.is’s Dagmál programme that she had long wanted to own an apartment and move out of her family home. But when she began seriously considering buying, she was advised to rent the property out because the costs of living there would be too high.

The 47-square-metre apartment cost 51 million krónur. Despite her 10 million-króna down payment, the monthly loan payment is about 310,000 krónur. Additional costs include fees to the building association and its maintenance fund.

Jahzara estimates these expenses add about 100,000 krónur a month to the mortgage payment. “I wouldn’t have anything left,” she said.

She decided to rent out the apartment so the rental income could cover much of the cost. She lives elsewhere as a tenant.