Home sales record brisk in 2005; real estate agents’ turnover grows by 20 percent
|
|
|
Sales of homes reached new records last year. According to figures put out by the Finnish League of Real Estate Agents, turnover among companies in the business surged by about 20 percent over the previous year.
This year, however, the pace is expected to slow down, and sales times for houses and apartments are expected to be longer.
According to figures collected by Statistics Finland, 2005 was the most profitable year for the real estate business in a long time. From 2003 to 2004, turnover grew by 11.5 percent.
Last year’s turnover in the sector was EUR 444 million. A total of 110,000 houses and apartments were sold, and about half of that number were handled by Finland’s four largest real estate companies.
Huoneistokeskus reported total sales of EUR 65.5 million, says the company’s CEO Risto Kyhälä. This represents growth of more than 14 percent.
Last year’s good result, including 13,800 sales, means that the company actually made a profit, after being in the red in 2004. This year Huoneistokeskus plans to take on more personnel in addition to the 580 people it now employs.
Kyhälä attributes last year’s brisk sales to low interest rates on housing loans, and to high rents that made buying a home a better alternative for many.
Average sales times for a house or apartment were as low as six weeks at the busiest time of the year. However, this increased to 50 days toward the end of the year, and Kyhälä expects longer sales times this year.
The Kiinteistömaailma chain of real estate agents, which is owned by Sampo Bank, reports a turnover of EUR 53.3 million, which is 20 percent higher than in the previous year.
With its 650 employees, Kiinteistömaailma closed more than 14,000 deals in 2005.
The company’s CEO Paavo Aunola says that Kiinteistömaailma could have sold more homes if they had been available. He says that buyers are favouring larger and better equipped homes, and that new detached houses are being built are more elegant than ever.
Aunola does not feel that housing prices are too high. "Prices have been going up for several years in succession, but the rise has been moderate. The situation is different in many other countries in the euro zone."
Raimo Sarajärvi, deputy CEO of SKV, has also noticed that the trend in Finland is to look for greater comfort in living. "Nearly every family is dreaming of a better home", he says.
Sarajärvi does not believe that the market faces a housing price bubble. "If prices were to rise faster than inflation for five years, for instance, it would be the beginning of bubble formation. No such danger is now in sight", he says.
Sarajärvi notes that Finland’s housing market is not investor-driven, as is the case in Copenhagen or Stockholm, where prices went up by as much as 25 percent. Sarajärvi says that housing purchases by investors have actually decreased in Finland.
Sarajärvi expects growth in turnover of 7-10 percent this year, and a lengthening of sales times from the present approximately five weeks to 8-10 weeks.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 4.1.2006 - TODAY |
 Home sales record brisk in 2005; real estate agents’ turnover grows by 20 percent
|
|
