It wasn’t on my bingo card that even this kind of thing would generate objections.
So, in your opinion, it is not unethical for the City of Helsinki, a public sector entity, to sell apartments to consumers without proper background information and to exploit its position as a public (perceived as trustworthy) actor?
Whether it is or not, that’s the other, more significant issue. HeKa is public housing production, and its operations are funded directly or indirectly by tax revenues and paid rents. The fact that HeKa now has to cover maintenance costs and financing costs for over 100 empty apartments in completed companies will ultimately come from tax revenues and the residents’ pockets. Why on earth are these apartments not REALLY being tried to be sold then? Efficient use of public funds, etc.
Completely irrelevant what is self-evident to whom. Why does the advertisement even bother to mention renovations that have been done, when it should be self-evident that a company from the 80s hasn’t had a pipe renovation? And you can see from the pictures what kind of roof the company has or what the apartment’s surfaces are like. It certainly doesn’t need to be separately stated what year the surface renovation or bathroom renovation was done. If it’s still unclear, these sales advertisements are absolutely substandard, so it’s no wonder the apartments are unsold.
I don’t disagree that there should be consequences for this; I just point out that unfortunately, there won’t be any. One should approach the City of Helsinki with extreme caution, especially regarding housing and salary matters.
EDIT: the Etuovi/Oikotie axis can also be a difficult path to take with feedback. It’s certainly possible that the world has changed, but previous experiences from discussions have been that these actors are primarily interested in how many (even unnecessary) clicks purchased listings receive. If, as a user, you try to suggest, for example, better filtering or stricter rules for a listing, the feedback will probably be kindly received for the feedback processing of unpaid customers - i.e., into the shredder.
I sincerely wish you luck and success if you try to get the City of Helsinki, Etuovi, and/or Oikotie to act ethically correctly.
I didn’t actually look at it in more detail. Without better information, I would assume it’s a contract of around 50 years, with normal index adjustments. In my opinion, the price list/maintenance fee brochure was dated with August’s information. After the rent, the maintenance fee remained at 4€/m2, which I consider quite neutral (it might be slightly on the low side). So, I don’t believe there’s any bigger catch hidden in that maintenance fee.
For my part, regarding the property, I think I wouldn’t be willing to buy an apartment at those prices in those locations.
This isn’t about consequences ;DD it’s about how, once again, things are being done with public money with eyes closed, left-handedly, and hands in a friend’s pockets, not their own. Taxpayers once again thank for the extra interest costs and lost income, when the city doesn’t even try to sell apartments.
I honestly don’t understand where you draw the conclusion that this would be the goal
New data from Statistics Finland on the prices of old detached houses.
According to Statistics Finland, the prices of old detached houses decreased nationwide by 9.5% from a year ago and by 6.1% from the previous quarter in July-September 2025. Sales of old detached houses increased by 2.6% compared to a year earlier.
This time, prices are being pressured by the markets in municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants:
In municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, the prices of old detached houses decreased by 10.9%.
“According to preliminary data from Statistics Finland, the prices of existing owner-occupied flats decreased by 2.4% nationwide from the previous year in October 2025. Compared to the previous month, prices remained at the same level. Prices decreased from a year ago in all major cities. The decrease in prices was largest in Espoo (-6.6%) and Vantaa (-6.4%).”
A slight change in valuation level is expected in Oulu, as the university announced its desire to move next to OYS on the other side of the city.
The current campus area in Linnanmaa has a significant number of student apartments, market-rate (student) apartments, and the services are in good condition.
In previous plans, a tram line should have been built between OYS and the Linnanmaa university campus, but Oulu’s “leading” politicians have strongly shot down the plans.
If the campus remains empty and new construction involving demolition is seen, then with the tram, the area would still have a very good chance to develop into an area that retains its value. Otherwise, a rather sharp decline in perceived value could be seen, as thousands of students and even employees living in nearby areas might reconsider their location.
A ten-year construction project lies ahead, and the change is likely to be quite slow, but the initial effects should be seen soon after the decisions.
Are there similar examples in Finland? The scale is likely such that the effects of moving a central hospital, a university, or perhaps an entire University of Applied Sciences (AMK) would be comparable. In Oulu, parts of the University of Applied Sciences, as well as parts of the university, have been moved before, but not on this large a scale.
What primarily comes to mind, on a smaller scale, is Savonlinna, where training positions and hospital functions have been reduced. The hospital is still apparently hanging by a thread. Naturally, this also affects tenants (students). At this hour, I don’t have time to delve deeper, but an older
Verkkouutiset cited HS, I think the original news is behind a paywall.
The square meter price of housing has fallen most significantly in Uusimaa in euro terms from 2022 to 2024, by as much as 433 euros.
According to HS, the average square meter price across the entire country decreased by slightly over 200 euros in two years.
In real prices, we are at the level of around the turn of the millennium nationwide. In the capital region, real prices are at around the 2008 level, says Keskinen.
Building housing has become terribly expensive. In the Helsingin Sanomat article, the construction cost of a rental building in Kerava was 3093 euros/square meter and in Jätkäsaari 4446 e/m2. And this price, of course, does not include the plot of land.
In a Finland of shrinking provinces, this means that building new apartment buildings (and other types of houses) is profitable only in growth centers. And there, in turn, they are really expensive when considering construction costs, expensive plot land, and the margins of a high-cost project.
At the same time, an expensive “hour train” (tunninjuna) is being planned, and municipalities along the railway line are calculating that the euros spent on the railway will be recouped by zoning plot land around new stations. It will be expensive when the project is done with money collection as the primary goal. Previously, municipalities at least tried zoning projects aimed at attracting so-called good taxpayers to the municipality; now, the goal seems to be only to maximize the value of the plot land.
The costs of earthworks are included in the construction costs. Connection fees, e.g., for district heating, water, and electricity, are one area not included in construction costs in VARKE’s statistics. Quite typically, connection fees are in the range of 1-2% of the total acquisition value. Parking is probably a big factor. When built into a hall, parking can cost, as specified there, about the same as the plot and connection fees combined. Perhaps more often outside the capital region, parking is built into carports.
Let’s put this here too. The presentation, however, deals with the real estate sector in general, not just housing. Duration 27 min.
Topics:
00:00 Transaction Volume in Finland
01:18 Share of International Investors in Purchases
02:37 Commercial Premises and Hotels as the Most Traded Property Type
09:58 Increase in Vacant Office Space
11:17 Several Large Commercial Property Projects Underway in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area
13:03 Prime Yield Requirements for Different Property Types
19:50 Residential Construction at Historically Low Levels in Finland
20:45 Rent Development in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Lagging Behind Tampere and Turku
23:04 Yield Gap Between Real Estate and Interest Rates
24:59 Professional Real Estate Investment Market
26:09 Business Cycle Curve
We are at that stage. STAT’s latest monthly report: “In October, 4% more transactions of old apartment and terraced houses were made through real estate agents than a year earlier.” Exactly a year earlier, the same source reported: “In October, 27% more transactions of old apartment and terraced houses were made through real estate agents than a year earlier.”
A year before that, there was talk of a 10% decrease in the number of transactions. And the year before that, a 29% decrease. There’s a lot of catching up to do, and the new normal won’t be the same as during the bubble of the corona years.
Next, I’m waiting for when a larger player starts to see real estate capital as a risky investment. At that point, there might be a rush to the door, and not everyone will be able to get out at the same time.
