Russians buying less real estate in Finland

print this

Russians are buying considerably fewer properties in Finland than in recent years. The number of purchases by Russians last year declined by nearly half from the level in 2008.
      In the a record year 2008, 780 such deals were finalised. Juhani Väänänen, an expert of the National Land Survey of Finland, estimates that last year’s figure is about 400.
      “In 2008, Russians bought properties at a rate of about 70 a month. This pace kept up in January and February of last year, but then it fell off”, Väänänen says.
     
The boom in sales of Finnish holiday properties to Russians sparked a certain amount of debate, with some making demands that property sales to non-EU citizens should be restricted.
      The economic downturn brought a decrease in demand. Another factor was the weakening of the rouble against the euro, which immediately raised the prices that Russians have to pay by about a quarter.
     
The average sales prices declined last year to an average EUR 118,000 per property. The most sought-after properties were summer cottages or houses on the shore of a lake. However, urban apartments have also been in demand.
      Snezana Lahdensivu of Domfinland, a company which helps Russian buyers interested in Finnish real estate, says that a year ago, Russians were also buying small apartments in Finland worth less than EUR 50,000. Frightened by the declining economy, many Russians have seen Finnish real estate as a safe investment.
     
The total number of Russian-owned cottages and other properties is small, but on a local level, the impact of Russian holiday residents is considerable.
      In Kerimäki, in the east of Finland, a veritable village of Russian-owned dachas has sprung up. The Kerimaa holiday centre is surrounded by 70 cottages, about 40 of which are owned by Russians.
      On a cold winter morning there are cars with Russian number plates in front of only a couple of the buildings. On the wall of one of them there is a For Sale sign in English with a Russian telephone number.
     
When the owner started marketing the cottages in the holiday village, which was built in the late 1980s, there was no intention of reaching out to the Russian market.
      “It’s the best place”, says Larissa Proskurova outside her holiday home.
      Proskurova and her husband bought the property and built a two-storey villa there two years ago. The reasons for buying in Finland were typical: a peaceful environment and clean air.
     
Russian residents at Kerimaa have learned the customs of Finnish cottage life quite well. Pekka Nurminen, the director of the real estate investment company which owns Kerimaa, says that at first, there were problems with getting bills paid on time.
      “Now people understand the meaning of payment deadlines, penalty interest, and collection agencies”, Nurminen says.
      Cultural differences are sometimes apparent on a more mundane level as well. Finns with cabins in the area have been surprised to see Russians using their outdoor grills even in the coldest winter.
     
Nurminen feels that the Russians have eased the economic hardships caused by the recession in the east of Finland. At least for the sleepy holiday village, the arrival of the Russians was a stroke of luck.
      Nurminen is also convinced that the current lull is temporary.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Surge in property buying by Russian citizens in Saimaa region (15.1.2008)
  Russian investors´ eagerness to invest in Finnish property is losing steam (17.11.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat