HOUSE PRICES in Finland fell significantly at the end of last year, according to preliminary data released by Statistics Finland.
The data indicates that the prices of old dwellings in housing companies declined by 2.5 per cent year-on-year and 0.2 per cent month-on-month in December 2022, translating to a year-on-year decline of three per cent for the period between October and December.
Although the decline was particularly sharp for smaller dwellings, the phenomenon was not exclusive to them.
The decline is attributable to the rapidly rising energy prices, reference interest rates and cost of living in general. Euribor 12, the most popular reference rate for housing loans in Finland, has surged to 3.3 per cent after starting last year almost half a percentage point below zero.
The downward trend is expected to continue this year. OP Financial Group, the largest mortgage lender in Finland, forecast at the end of last year that house prices would decrease by an average of 4–6 per cent this year, driven by drops of 5–7 per cent in Greater Helsinki. Outside the capital region, the drops are not expected to be quite as dramatic – somewhere between 3.5 and 5.5 per cent.
Activity in the real estate market also slowed down significantly, with real estate agencies brokering 38 per cent fewer house sales in December 2022 than in December 2021.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
