Figures released by Statistics Finland on Wednesday showed prices of homes in old apartment buildings and terraced houses nudging up by a national average of 1.3 percent from January to February. But that rise was driven by increases in the greater Helsinki area, where prices went up by 2.2 percent. Elsewhere in Finland prices remained nearly stagnant, edging up just four tenths of a percent.
Nationwide, prices were up by 2.2 percent compared with the same period of 2015. Year-on-year, costs have climbed by 2.7 percent in Helsinki and its surroundings, compared to 1.7 percent in the rest of Finland.
Last month the average buyer of an old dwelling in a housing company in Finland paid 2,282 euros per square metre. The gap between the capital region and the rest of the country was stark though: 3,655 euros in Greater Helsinki versus 1,667 euros anywhere else.
Subsidised rents up 3.5%
The data issued by the central statistics office are preliminary, based on about 40 percent of all real estate deals completed during the month, so they may be slightly adjusted when all the figures become available.
Statistics Finland earlier reported that rents rose by three percent year-on-year during the last quarter of 2015. Rents in state-subsidised dwellings rose the most, by 3.5 percent compared to 2.7 non-subsidised rentals.