Housing has changed radically in Finland in recent decades. Part of the country is becoming deserted, while a few growth centers are growing rapidly. Apartments are needed where people move, because they don't move with them.
In any case, the housing trend has changed significantly: in addition to urbanization, the size of the average dining room is decreasing. While in the previous decades, the "standard housing" was a family with two children and two adults, today the vast majority of apartments are households of one or two people. This, too, is constantly shaping the needs of housing and, with it, what kind of apartments are built.
In order to be able to respond to urbanization and the growing number of small households in Finland, According to VTT's housing production needs report, an average of 35 new apartments must be built in Finland each year. The need is particularly focused on the largest urban areas, and its fulfillment depends primarily on freely financed housing production.
The majority, around 70 percent, of Finns live in owner-occupied housing. The number of self-financed rental apartments has grown significantly over the past ten years. About a third of the renters live in state-subsidized ARA apartments.
Sufficient supply keeps prices and rents under control
Sufficient housing production that meets changing needs is the best way to ensure reasonably priced housing. The lively housing construction at the turn of the decade kept the development of housing prices and rents in Finland clearly more moderate than in other Nordic countries.
The scarcity of housing supply increases rents and housing prices. It weakens labor mobility and people's opportunities to build their own life in the location they want. That is why it is important to take care of the adequacy of housing construction also in the longer term.
Housing is of great importance in everyone's personal life. The location of the home near services, transport links and, for example, nearby nature, is important for a good and functional everyday life. Apartments should be built especially on the basis of existing infrastructure and versatile transport connections, also to reduce emissions and environmental impacts.
See also
Elsewhere online
- Statistical information on apartments and living conditions is available on the Statistics Finland website