Housing prices continue to rise, number of sales decline
Number of dwellings on sale grew shortly before summer
|
|
Sale prices of houses and apartments continued to rise in the second quarter of this year.
In April through June, old apartments sold at prices that were an average 1.8 percent higher than at the beginning of the year. In the Helsinki region the increase was 1.9 percent, according to advance information released on Monday by Statistics Finland.
The data includes two thirds of sales of homes in old apartment buildings and row houses. On an annual level prices rose in all of Finland by 8.8 percent, and in the Helsinki region by 9.8 percent.
The number of sales during the first half of this year declined considerably from the same period a year ago.
The decline in the number of sales became more pronounced as summer approached. The number of sales of homes in April-June was more than 3,000 fewer than in January-March, even though the spring is usually a busy time on the housing market.
In the Helsinki region the number of sales declined by less than 1,000.
The time that a home stays on the market before being sold has also increased. Whereas the average selling time last year was 42 days, it is now closer to 60 days.
Real estate agents report that they have considerably more unsold homes on sale than last year.
"It is quite normal for housing sales to slow down, because we have an intense home sale year behind us. The most intense movement has slowed down, now that the spike in demand caused by low interest rates has been cut off", says Pekka Luukkanen, director of housing affairs at Nordea Bank.
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 1.8.2006 - TODAY |
 Housing prices continue to rise, number of sales decline |
|
