EU employees demand luxury in Helsinki

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The European Chemicals Agency ECA is scheduled to begin operations in Helsinki from 2007, which will put some strain on the supply of deluxe rental housing in the city. In the worst case, a shortage of high-class rental housing could delay the beginning of the operations in the Finnish capital.
      Particularly in the early stages, the ECA staff will need high-class furnished apartments, which are currently not easy to come by.
     
"The problem is that no high-class rental housing market exists in Finland", says Expert Services Director Jukka Malm from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
      Malm is one of the officials who have been preparing the establishment of the first EU agency in Finland.
     
The EU employees who have been living in Brussels are demanding, and they have various kinds of expectations. For example, the standard of equipment should be top-quality. "It is difficult to find such apartments among the typical supply of rental housing in Helsinki", Malm admits.
      Antti Arjanne, the Chairman of the Association of Finnish Landlords, confirms the shortage of deluxe apartments, and Managing Director Marjo Lautjärvi from Finland Relocation Services agrees with him.
     
Around 40 employees will start work with the ECA in the spring of 2007, but from then on the Agency will grow in size rapidly, and premises in Helsinki have already been leased in the former headquarters of the Eläke-Varma insurance company opposite Vanha kirkkopuisto (the "Old Church Park") in downtown Helsinki.
      According to preliminary estimates, it is anticipated that some 150 employees will start work with the ECA by the end of 2007, and another 150 officials will be employed both in 2008 and 2009.
     
Part of the employees plan to spend only the working-week in Helsinki, and to take their weekends at home elsewhere in Europe, while others plan to move in with their families. Hence a package of information concerning living in Helsinki has been sent to Brussels. "For example, the price level in Helsinki is higher than in Brussels, which should obviously be compensated", Malm reports.
      If the shortage of deluxe apartments does not ease off, the government and the capital city might have to help, Malm feels.
      Pekka Korpinen, Helsinki's Mayor for City Planning and Real Estate, is also concerned about the shortage of upscale rental housing in Helsinki. "We will start collecting information about potential landlords, and make certain contacts", Korpinen reports.
      He says that the experts of the ECA are demanding people. "Besides, Helsinki is quite an expensive city, particularly compared with its size. That may also come as a surprise to new arrivals", Korpinen concludes.
     
"The demand for well-equipped furnished apartments slowed down a couple of years ago, whereupon all luxury appliances were stripped from apartments", says Antti Arjanne.
      He estimates that currently there are just a few dozen deluxe apartments available in downtown Helsinki of the type likely to be in demand.
      Managing Director Lautjärvi, in turn, explains that the current shortage is a result of the fact that insurance companies and many other investors have sold off their rental apartments in the city centre because of attractively high prices.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki tries wry humour in wooing European Chemicals Agency staff (20.12.2005)

Links:
  European Chemicals Agency ECA
  The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)

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