More and more Finns work from their holiday homes

Telecommuting from summer cottages has doubled in past five years

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By Milka Sauvala
     
      Telecommuting from one’s holiday home, as well as going to work from the summer cottage, is becoming more and more popular among the Finnish holiday home owners. According to the summer cottage barometer published on Monday, the number of e-commuters from holiday homes has doubled in the last five years.
      Telecommuting has already been practiced at more than 38,000 holiday homes, and 45,000 summer cottage owners express their interest in the idea. People have commuted from more 80,000 summer cottages. On average this has happened on 14 days per year.
      The number of people telecommuting and commuting from their holiday homes may be even larger, because for example couples can telecommute from the same cottage.
     
The Finns’ summer cottages have more and more clearly become second homes, where people are willing to invest in the standard of equipment and where they want to spend time all year round. Gone - or at least going - are the days of "getting back to nature" simply in the summer months, and a norm of properties with no running water or electricity.
      According to the barometer, the Finns now spend EUR 4.5 billion a year on their free time habitation. In five years the figure has grown by a billion euros.
      There are 480,000 holiday homes in Finland, just over a third of which are suitable for all-year-round living.
      In the last five years the share of those holiday homes that are fit for winter habitation has grown by three percentage points.
     
According to Minister of Economic Affairs Mauri Pekkarinen (Centre), people’s desire to use their summer cottages for year-round habitation sets new challenges for municipal zoning.
      “The holiday home users have to be included in the dialogue”, Pekkarinen says.
      In Pekkarinen's view it is reasonable to ask whether those using their holiday homes for work should also pay some of their taxes in the municipality where the second residence is situated.
      11,000 of Finland’s summer cottages are used for permanent living, and nearly 30,000 holiday home owners are considering moving to the municipality of their holiday home.
     
One out of three holiday homes have had improvements made to their level of equipment during the past year, and half of the summer cottage owners are considering some improvements in the coming year.
      Some 76 per cent of the summer cottages are now connected to the power grid, and one in ten holiday homes are equipped with solar panels. Already more than half of the cottages benefit from direct electric heating.
      As a new form of heating, five per cent of the cottages are experimenting with heat pump technology.
      Nine holiday homes out of ten have a refrigerator, more than 70 per cent of them have a television (once quite unheardof - it was supposed to be a "retreat" from this sort of thing...), 14 per cent have a washing machine, and 11 per cent benefit from an electric dishwasher.
      Only six per cent of the cottages have an internet connection, but this figure significantly does not include connections via mobile devices.
      A clear majority of the summer cottage owners, nearly 70 per cent in all, would not be willing to cut down their trips to the cottage even if the price of fuel were to go up.
     
The barometer also asked what would happen if holidaying at one’s summer cottage in Finland was not possible.
      Some 60 per cent of the respondents suspect that they would increase their other holiday trips, and one out of ten says he or she would be ready to invest in a holiday home abroad.
      The summer cottage barometer is a joint effort by the Ministry of Employment and Economics' Island Committee and Statistics Finland, and it was now conducted for the second time.
      A questionnaire was sent to 5,000 summer cottage owners in various parts of the country. Roughly 55% of them completed the questionnaire. Additional statistical and research information was also utilised in the barometer.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.3.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Survey: Finns generally inherit their summer cottages (14.6.2007)
  Frequent cottage visits in winter generate as much in emissions as do trips to far-off countries (8.9.2008)

Links:
  Telecommuting (Wikipedia)

MILKA SAUVALA / Helsingin Sanomat
milka.sauvala@hs.fi