If in the past years the apartment buyers looked at the housing market through pink lenses, now the eyes have forgotten the opaque black glasses. The gloom is partly maintained by the media, which incites uncertainty.
The most recent example is that of a Helsingin Sanomat journalist comment writing, according to which construction companies have not embarked on visible price reduction campaigns to promote the sale of new apartments, but instead offer dubious ribs, ice cream and decorating tips to those considering the biggest investment of their lives (HS 6.6.).
In reality, several companies have also given direct price discounts on apartments and announced their discount campaigns openly, for example, on their websites.
In addition, construction companies have used several other ways to grant tangible benefits to home buyers. These include, for example, interest guarantees or the payment of consideration on behalf of the customer for a certain period of time or a free parking space. The value of these can be tens of thousands of euros.
Each company decides on its sales promotion methods for each target and also for each apartment. Correspondingly, each buyer can choose from different options, which is the cheapest and most suitable way to buy the apartment they like.
For the time being, there are still plenty of new ready-made apartments available on the market. They have been built during a time of historically high construction costs, while construction companies have been hit by a difficult economic situation. It is also good to remember that on average 46 percent of the prices of new apartments are taxes and tax-related payments.
Since exceptionally few new residential construction projects have been started for 1,5 years already, new apartments have not been for sale as a whole in a little over ten years.
If housing construction gradually starts to recover from next year, it will take a couple of years before it starts to be reflected in the supply of ready-made new apartments. There will be a shortage of new apartments in the future at the same time that there is already a lot of pent-up demand in the housing market.
Now is a good time for homebuyers to go shopping, when the rise in interest rates has subsided and the real prices of apartments compared to income trends are the most affordable since the recession of the 1990s.
Original writing has been published on Helsingin Sanomat's opinion column on June 12.6.2024, XNUMX
Merja Vuoripuro
Director, Communications and Responsibility
merja.vuoripuro@rt.fi + 358 40 587 2642Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)
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