VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has studied how new apartments have changed in 15 years. Now the buildings are safer, healthier and more energy-efficient. Growing focus on small apartments has responded to the demand, but due to the smaller floor area homes have become more difficult to adapt to different needs.

Whether you’re thinking of buying a house, apartment, or other property, for the majority of people, the reality of purchasing property means securing a mortgage. And with mortgage fees, solicitor payments, and transfer tax, keeping your repayments as low as possible is important for affordability in the long run.

A real estate agent hosting a house viewing in Katajanokka, Helsinki, on 17 March 2020. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

THE MORTGAGE SOCIETY of Finland (Hypo) has revised up its forecast for house prices in 2020–2021.

Hypo on Friday published its most recent review of the housing market, forecasting that house prices in the capital region will increase by 3.0 per cent in 2020 and 3.5 per cent in 2021. The forecasts represent increases of two and one percentage points, respectively, from the review it published in August.

TO GIVE US a mortgage, the bank required that we sell our old home before buying a new one. Now we've exchanged contracts on our old place, which leaves us in a quandary: where will we live until we find a new house?

The price of district heating may surge by 70 per cent by 2020, according to the estimates of PTT, the Finnish Real Estate Federation and the Finnish House Owners' Association.

For a family living in a 90-square metre flat this would translate into a 50-70-euro increase in the monthly energy bill, says PTT. Having already gone up by 31 per cent since July 2010, district heating prices have skyrocketed in the 2010s.

Flat prices have continued to climb in the capital region this year. This is in contrast to elsewhere in the country where a slight downward trend has been seen in house prices. Even in the capital region, prices are slightly down compared with last year in certain areas. Helsingin Sanomat compared flat prices in different parts of the capital region, including in its statistics areas where at least 20 flats have been sold this year. New housing estates were not included in the list.

Ninni Laaksonen furnished her friend's two-bedroom flat with items collected through Facebook.

Is it possible to create a cosy and harmonious decor without spending a cent? Believing it could be done with time, patience and a little bit of ingenuity, Ninni Laaksonen (28) decided to put the idea to a test.

The renovation of housing in suburbs going to rack and ruin must be speeded up, urges the Ministry of the Environment. Built in the 1960s and 1970s, these blocks of flats are behind with work that needs doing, with the cost of this backlog of maintenance amounting to tens of billions of euros.

There are several ways to get on the Internet while on the go.

THESE days, being without an Internet connection is not an option in Finland. It doesn’t matter if you are at your summer cottage or skiing in the middle of nowhere, the Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) in Finland will offer you an option to connect, just by using a dongle and a SIM card.

Moving house in Finland doesn’t need to be a daunting affair.

MOVING house is never simple, but as a foreigner, trawling the endless estate agency, private rentals and student accommodation websites using Google’s rusty “Translate Page” function can be tedious. You have already lugged your belongings halfway around the globe, and like most of us, through the generosity of in-laws and fellow travelers, have probably acquired a load more baggage..