First-time buyers’ share of Icelandic home purchases reaches 19-year high

First-time buyers made up more than 36% of all registered home purchase agreements in Iceland during the first half of the year, a level not seen in 19 years outside the pandemic period.

Data from the Housing and Construction Authority, HMS, show that first-time buyers were involved in 1,762 transactions. That figure remains below the average of roughly 1,900 transactions per half-year between 2016 and 2025.

The unusually high share therefore does not mean that more first-time buyers are entering the market. Overall housing activity has fallen, lifting their proportion even as their number has declined from recent years.

Since 2007, first-time buyers have accounted for an average of 32% of all home purchase agreements. The share exceeded 36% in the first half of this year and reached 37% when measured over the latest six months. Comparable levels appeared only during the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021, when first-time buyers also represented 37% of transactions.

Their number was much higher when interest rates were low in 2020 and 2021, averaging about 2,870 transactions per half-year, more than half again as many as in the first half of this year.