Demand for flats has risen particularly quickly in Helsinki but has increased in other areas as well. Rents have risen as much as ten to fifteen percent in recent years.
Metsola says renting has increased in popularity as the housing boom of recent years slows down. Enthusiasm for buying flats has faded due to rising interest on housing loans, steeper building costs and a less-optimistic economic outlook. At the same time, competition for rental apartments has increased and bidding for flats is more common.
Meanwhile Ilpo Eerola of the Union of Finnish Tenants warns there are no clear game rules when it comes to bidding on rent.
YLE