Finnish real estate markets

For the past few years the real estate market here in Finland has been a hot topic. Almost every day a major media highlights some news about some part of the field. News usually vary from apartment construction boom to real estate investing tips etc. 

As a real estate investor myself, I usually like to dig into these news even though there is a lot of crap and same things over and over again. But it appears to be the subject of much interest and it attracts clicks and readers. I think that it is quite the same abroad also, you need to be able to cut the crap and see through it. 

Almost without exceptions a house or a flat is the major investment here in Finland. Most of our money is in the house and I don't mean cash, I mean it is the house itself. It is a major status symbol in Finland that you own our own apartment. There is also a growing need for renovations to keep the apartments in a good condition. So no wonder it is a huge topic and attracts a lot of interest?

It is not anymore such a taboo to rent an apartment but it is still the dream for Finnish people to own it. People are moving from the country to major cities and they do not necessarily have the funds to buy an apartment anymore. The major cities have become a lot more expensive to live in and the thin line between expenses to live in the city or outside it seems to have got a lot wider. 

One moving to Helsinki might not be able to buy or even rent an apartment so the only option might be to live a little bit, or nowadays a little bit more, away from the city and own a car just to be able to survive the situation. One might have had an own apartment in the countryside but it is not necessarily easy to sell or it is impossible to make enough profit to move into or near the capital. 

Is it then hard to comprehend why Finnish people tend to think that real estate investing is a profitable and a safe investment? I have my own house too, I know how it works and so I cannot lose? And often these investments are taken care like an own apartment. In some cases it might be good but it can also work like a trap. One has to know how to use all the feelings and emotions as an advantage in the field of Finnish real estate. You just cannot buy flats and hope for the best...

I am merely trying to highlight the way that Finnish mind works... But yes I work pretty much alike myself. Stocks might be a lot more liquid but I think (and also so many other think this too) that I can make a lot more money by investing in the field that I know and am interested in.

Finnish Landlord has left the building