Helsinki housing prices reach levels equivalent to pre-recession bubble

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Housing prices in Helsinki are again at the same level that they were during the so-called crazy years of the 1980s - even if inflation is taken into account.
      The trend applies to both the average prices around the city, as well as to the expensive apartments in the south of Helsinki.
      There is still considerable variation in prices within Helsinki.
     
In southern parts of the city, an apartment can cost three times as much as a dwelling of the same size in a suburb. In Vantaa, the buyer can get two apartments for the price of an equivalent apartment in the south of Helsinki.
      The City Planning Department of the City of Helsinki has drafted a study of housing prices in the city, covering the past 45 years.
      In real terms, housing prices have risen by a factor of 2.5 since 1960. In the same period of time, real prices in other parts of the country have remained almost unchanged, and in the mid-1990s, prices even dipped below the 1960 level.
      Esko Lauronen, a planner at the City Planning Department, says that development in Helsinki has been similar to that in many other large European cities.
      "In many large cities, population and job density are many times higher than in Helsinki. In many respects, the development in Helsinki is only beginning. There is far too little availability of apartments in good locations."
     
Helsinki residents live in the same home an average eight years. People generally live in the city centre for shorter periods of time than in the suburbs or nearby areas.
      Residents of detached houses stay in one place an average 12 years.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bank analysts anticipate modest rise in interest rates (25.8.2005)
  Interest rates on housing loans continue to fall; banks compete fiercely for best customers (29.3.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat