Author: Catharine Fulton

House prices in Reykjavík have risen sharply, with an average increase of 22.3% in the past 12 months. Detached home prices are up 25.7% and the price of the average price of an apartment is up 21.5% year over year, RÚV reports. The steady rise in real estate prices has caused the consumer price index to follow suit, prompting Landsbanki economists to raise their inflation forecasts. Inflation stands at 7.7% in May. Not responding to rate increases The Central Bank adjusted interest rates earlier this month in an attempt to cool the housing market, but the rate hike hasn’t shown……

An Icelandic delegation has arrived in the United States to meet with tech companies about the importance of the Icelandic language being integrated into devices, RÚV reports. Iceland’s delegation is headed by President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Minister of Culture and Trade Lilja D. Alfreðsdóttir. Lilja told the national broadcaster there needs to be broad collaboration in order to ensure the digital future of Icelandic language. She extended praise to computer scientists and entrepreneurs for the progress Iceland has made. Representatives from Apple said few countries have come as far as Iceland in developing language technology. “Few issues are as……

While undertaking excavations in preparation of building a new church on Grímsey, archeologists unearthed relics that indicate humans inhabited the island since shortly after the settlement of Iceland in 870. The island’s church burned to the ground in September 2021, and plans were underway to erect the new church on the same footprint. However, the unexpected historical findings on the site mean the new church will be built on another plot of land, just four metres to the east. Among the initial findings on the site of the old church building are the remnants of a church dating to the……

Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir embarked this week on the first official visit of an Icelandic leader to Greenland since 1998. She was in Nuuk at the invitation of Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte B. Egede. The two leaders discussed opportunities for increased cooperation between Iceland and Greenland. Specific points of focus were a free trade agreement, fisheries and tourism, education and research, equality and energy and the climate crisis. Another meeting is already in the works for later this year to continue to build on the ideas presented this week. During her visit, Katrín also met with Greenland’s Minister of Finance……

We’re very sorry to say we don’t know the poem you’re referring to. We are, however, very familiar with the showering protocols of Iceland’s public swimming pools. At every swimming pool, you’ll see signs reminding you in several languages that you must shower – in the nude! with soap! – prior to putting on your swimsuit and jumping into the pool. The signs even include diagrams highlighting the body parts to focus on when lathering up: Hair, underarms, genitals/backside, and feet. The reason is twofold. First, it’s just basic decency to wash yourself properly before stewing in hot water with……

The sculpture you’re looking for is the “Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat.” The sculpture, which combines the lower half of a person in a suit carrying a briefcase and a massive unhewn rock where the upper torso and head should be, was created by Icelandic sculptor Magnús Tómasson in 1994. The sculpture used to be located in an alleyway off Lækjargata, perhaps a nod to the obscurity of the character it represents. But today it stands prominently at the northern end of Reykjavík’s central pond, Tjörnin, at the end of the long footbridge leading into city hall. The statue is……

About half of Icelanders want to buy wine and beer alongside their other groceries, while fewer would support the sale of strong alcohol outside of government-run stores, Vísir reports. The perennial debate about breaking the state’s monopoly on alcohol sales rages on, with polling showing steady support for permitting the sale of alcohol in private stores. A survey conducted in February by Maskína for Vísir suggests that 47.6% of Icelanders support the sale of wine and beer in grocery stores, up from 43.4% in 2021. Meanwhile, just 22.4% of respondents are in favour of strong alcohol being sold in private……

The Central Bank of Iceland confirmed to Stundin that it has opened an investigation into the government’s March 22 sale of a 22.5% stake in Íslandsbanki bank. However, what specific matters about the sale are under investigation is not clear. “In light of the Central Bank of Iceland’s supervisory role, the Bank cannot comment on issues that are directly related to the state’s sale of a holding in Íslandsbanki,” a Central Bank spokesperson told Stundin. “The reason is that individual factors related to the sale may be examined by the Central Bank’s Financial Supervisory Authority, and an examination of certain……

The case of the stolen statue has been solved. As reported last week, a bronze statue of Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir was stolen from its pedestal in Laugarbrekka, on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. Titled “The First White Mother in America,” the stolen statue depicted Guðríður and her son and was cast from a sculpture that renowned Icelandic sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson created for the 1940 World’s Fair in New York. Guðríður and her son reappeared Saturday in a spaceship outside the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík. After some confusion over how the statue came to be in the rudimentary rocket atop a steel launchpad,……