Life in Iceland in 2008
How are households doing?
Pay buys noticeably less
Kibba: A basket of food that cost ISK 10,000 a year earlier now costs ISK 11,599. Pay buys noticeably less than a year earlier: purchasing power fell 4.0%. In our example loan, the monthly payment equals 64% of median pay before tax.
- No overall score here: each section below stands on its own.
Household money
The household in numbers
- Purchasing power in 2008 −4.0% Pay rise above inflation
- Inflation with housing — CPI in 2008 12.7% 12-month change in consumer prices
- House prices in 2008 −6.9% Change above inflation
- Unemployment in 2008 3.4% Share of the labour force out of work
Food
- Food prices in 2008 +16.0% All prices: 12.7%
🧺 A basket of food that cost ISK 10,000 a year earlier now costs ISK 11,599
Loan example (a standard comparison)
A standard example of the cost of a new loan against one person's wage, not the measured burden of Icelandic households.
Assumptions of the example
A standard example with fixed assumptions, to compare the cost of a new loan between years: the same home, a loan of ISK 50 million in 2025 money, adjusted for house prices, over 40 years without indexation, at the central bank rate + 1.5 points as a stand-in for mortgage rates. It does not show what households actually pay: most have older loans, other rates, indexation or two incomes.
- Interest rate (estimate) 17.29%
- Term 40 years
- Median monthly wage ISK 351,828
- Monthly payment (interest and principal) (Exact values) ISK 224,065
- Share of the median wage 63.70%
Before 2010 most Icelandic home loans were indexed with lower interest rates, so this non-indexed example overstates the burden in those years. It is still used in the score and warning lights for those years, which pulls the score down.
Your settings only change this loan example. The score always uses the fixed example.
- Rent in 2008 +17.0% All prices: 12.7%
Energy costs
- 💡 Electricity & heating in 2008 +5.4% All prices: 12.7%
- ⛽ Petrol & diesel in 2008 +30.0% All prices: 12.7%
🧾 A monthly electricity and heating bill of ISK 20,000 a year earlier now costs ISK 21,077
🚗 A tank of fuel that cost ISK 15,000 a year earlier now costs ISK 19,506
Energy combined (weights 46% electricity and heating, 54% fuel): +18.7% in nominal terms. Headline inflation was 12.7%, so relative to inflation the change is +5.3%. That figure goes into the score.
Change in price from the year before (CPI subindices). Heating is mostly geothermal hot water.
People and services
People & health
- Residents and estimated overnight guests average over 2008 322,711 317,414 residents + 5,297 foreign guests a night
- Most in Jul 2008 333,453 of whom 16,040 foreign guests a night
- Population at year end 319,368 ▲ +1.2% during the year
- Net migration (2008) +1,144
- Hospital beds (2008) 1,241 3.5 per 1,000 people · −3.3% from the year before
Residents plus the foreign guests staying each night on average: foreign overnight stays in registered accommodation (Statistics Iceland, SAM01601) divided by the days in the month. Guests in unregistered lodging, with friends or on cruise ships are not counted, and residents who are abroad are not subtracted, so the figure is a rough estimate.