More and more householders live in rented homes, Finland’s statistical agency says. According to figures released on Wednesday, about one-third of household dwelling units, or 878,000, were rented and occupied by some 1.4 million persons last year.
The growth in rental housing was particularly high in the private market, where the number of households in non-subsidised dwellings increased by six percent.
By contrast, the number of affordable homes subsidised by the Housing Finance and Development Centre Ara fell by two percent, the agency says. This is due to new regulations which allow old subsidised homes to be transferred to the private market or re-classified as owner-occupied units.
The highest growth occurred in Helsinki where 4,200 more households lived in rented dwellings in 2017 compared with the previous year. Tampere and Vantaa also saw considerable increases, the agency said.
Rental homes are particularly popular in densely-populated areas and university towns, and among 20-29-year-olds, the figures show.
A housing reportreleased by Parliament on Tuesday says the Helsinki region in particular suffers from a shortage of affordable homes, as the stock of subsidised housing has decreased sharply in the past decades.
In July, a rule requiring buyers to put down a deposit of 15 percent of the home price came into force. Previously, up to 90 percent of the price could be covered by a loan.