Housing in Iceland: Inflation Helps those who Help Themselves

Abstract

This paper describes the housing system in Iceland and relates to results from a 1979 housing survey in the Reykjavik area. Because Icelandic housing policy leaves it largely to individual families to buy or build their homes on their own, it leads to an owner-occupancy rate of over 95 percent for families of couples who are over 35 years old. Tenants are a distinct minority group, consisting on the one hand of the most underprivileged people in Icelandic society, and on the other hand of the youngest families - those who have not yet had time to build or buy their own dwelling. Young people in the process of acquiring their own dwelling often have to make an excessively great effort in the course of a few years. It is quite usual, however, for them to receive considerable assistance from their larger extended family, which in Iceland still has vital social functions. Currently, the housing system as described in this paper is going through fundamental change, and predictably a future housing policy will strive more towards collective solutions and away from the hitherto dominant individual ones.