711 property owners have applied to Þórkatla to purchase their apartments or apartment buildings in Grindavík. The board of Þórkatla started processing applications at the end of last week and has already approved the purchase of 126 properties for a total of approximately ISK 9.2 billion. Completion and handling of individual transactions will take a different amount of time, but it is planned to approve about 150 additional applications next week.

It is hoped that the purchase will proceed more quickly as experience gains. Purchase agreements have already been concluded with 11 applicants, but 115 applicants are today notified that their application has been approved by the board of Þórkötlu. Preparations are underway for purchase agreements with this group and payment of 95% of the purchase price should be received by the sellers within five working days of the signing and registration of the purchase agreement. Some applicants have already received the purchase agreement payment transferred to their accounts.

Örn Viðar Skúlason, CEO of Þórkatla:

“We know that the majority of Grindvíkingar are in a tight position in their housing. Many have already tried to secure their properties elsewhere and are waiting to sell. It is understandable that their patience is low and that they have hoped for a faster process for processing their applications. Real estate transactions are by their very nature a complicated process and there are many things we need to consider. The project in Grindavík is even more complicated than traditional real estate transactions, as Þórkatla handles the acquisition and settlement of loans on behalf of sellers and has to elaborate on this procedure in consultation with 18 different lenders. It is vital that there is a level playing field among Grindvíkingar in regards to this government rescue and hundreds of individual real estate transactions, where the cases are often very different, present challenges in this respect. We are working very hard on this, but just as with real estate transactions in general, there can be some delays. We want to avoid, by all accounts, that something goes wrong with the purchase of these properties, which may lead to repercussions later. A common question we have received is whether people will have their cases processed in the same order as they applied for. The answer to that is that we are generally considering applications in the order they were received, but since the cases are different, it is not possible to guarantee that their processing will be in the same order. We need to be very careful that the law is followed and that the tens of billions that Þórkatla has available will be spent in the manner that the Icelandic parliament decided. We respect the right of Grindvíkingar to speak out and we can certainly hear them. We take the message they receive as an encouragement to do the job quickly, but we also know that both Grindvíkingar and other residents of Iceland want us to do it well.”