Outer islands wary of foreign property investors

We need to ensure that local people and their descendants have the possibility of buying properties in their home village.

This is the view of the Outlying Islands Association, which is calling on lawmakers to make clear rules regarding overseas property investments in the Faroes.

This comes in the wake of Tórshavn’s mayor, Annika Olsen, calling on national policy makers to take action amid a surge in attention from overseas real estate investors.

The Outlying Islands Association is worried that foreign property investors will push house prices up, which will push local people even further back in the property queue.

“For the past 20 years we have been asking the authorities to ensure access to residential houses on the outlying islands so that the next generation and others are given the opportunity to settle down there if they should wish to do so,” the association says in a press release.

The association says that Faroese property owners should also be presented with certain requirements, such as full or partial mandatory residence or a charge for houseowners who refuse to rent out uninhabited properties.

There is a particular need for access to rental properties, so that purchasing or building a house will not become an urgent necessity for young locals.

According to the association’s press release, the banks’ requirements for net capital and loan security are so high that very few young people in the smaller islands can afford them. These circumstances do not support development of the outlying areas.

Translated by prosa.fo