Ilta-Sanomat is among the morning papers reporting on a housing market review by the Nordea banking group which shows that housing costs have risen by 25 percent since 2020, while earnings have risen by only 12 percent.
Nordea attributes the rise in costs to a number of factors, starting in 2022 with higher energy costs, when both electricity and heating prices rose.
Although the price of electricity has fallen from its peak, it still accounts for four percentage points of a 25 percent cost increase. Higher water and waste disposal costs have pushed up total housing costs by around two percentage points.
Nordea calculates that renters have had it easier than owner-occupiers, as rents have risen by only seven percent in four years. However, rising electricity and water bills have also hit renters' wallets.
Owner-occupiers and landlords have taken the hardest hit as interest rates have risen. These items account for more than half of the rise in housing costs. In addition, renovation costs for owner-occupied housing have risen, increasing housing costs by four percentage points.
Ilta-Sanomat does, though, point to some good news in the report. Housing costs have started to show a decline in part due to slightly lower interest rates.
Electricity remains pricy
Most papers remind readers that spot prices for electricity will again be unusually high on Thursday.
According to an STT news agency report, Thursday's prices are projected to be at their highest between 9am and 10am, topping 43 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The average price per kilowatt-hour for the day is likely to be over 23 cents. The lowest spot price, just over 6 cents per kWh, is expected to be seen between 11pm and midnight. This is the same as the average price over the previous 12 months.
The Olkiluoto nuclear power plant's number two reactor is still under repair, but is expected to start up at limited power on Sunday. The number one reactor at the Loviisa nuclear power plant is undergoing annual maintenance, which is due to end on Friday.
Wind power production is expected to remain at a low level on Thursday.
The economic and business daily Kauppalehti describes the electricity market as a "complex tangle", where it is up to consumers themselves to cut power use if they want to minimise their bills.
Kauppalehti writes that the construction of a weather-proof electricity grid, the significant increase in renewable energy, and the decline in the use of fossil fuels have changed the electricity market dramatically.
The paper predicts that fluctuations and spikes in electricity prices, both up and down, will continue to be commonplace in coming years.
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Keeping a dignified chamber
Helsingin Sanomat reports that parliamentary leaders intend to have a serious discussion on the etiquette of debates.
The paper writes that next Friday, the Speaker's Council, a body comprised of the Speaker, Deputy Speakers and committee chairs will sit down with party leaders to discuss what kind of interjections can be made from the floor during speeches by MPs.
The issue has come up in the wake of an incident late last month. At that time, the opposition Social Democratic Party, Antti Lindtman, was criticising the government's employment policies during an address in Parliament. When he briefly reiterated his statement in Finland's second national language, Swedish, a voice called out, "Can we get that in Arabic, too?".
"Swedish is our other national language and I ask that it also be respected in this hall," Lindtman responded.
The heckler was Finns Party MP Jenna Simula, a 35-year-old first-term MP from Oulu, who later said that her interjection referred to recent news that Yle would be offering news in Arabic and Somali.
HS points out that in principle, an MP has broad freedom of speech and expression in plenary sessions. According to the Constitution, a Member of Parliament may not be prosecuted for opinions expressed in the hall unless censured first by a five-sixths majority.
The Constitution also stipulates that a Member of Parliament must speak with soundness and dignity and without insulting others.
Simula has now told Helsingin Sanomat that she hopes that her remark will not lead to restrictions on what kind of comments can be shouted out in the chamber.
"I don't think it makes sense that an MP should start overthinking every heckle or comment. That would impoverish the debate," Simula wrote in a text message to HS.
Asked by the paper what she would like to say to those Swedish-speaking Finns who are offended by her heckling, she replied, "The interpretation is wrong, so Swedish speakers have no reason to worry about my heckling."
Cold and colder
The weather is set to turn dramatically colder this week, Iltalehti tells readers.
Nighttime temperatures are forecast to be colder than usual for this time of year, dropping to around zero or below on Thursday and Friday in most parts of the country, and possibly as low as -10C in Finnish Lapland.
Daytime temperatures will be between 8C and 13C in most parts of the country for the rest of the week.
On Thursday, central and northern Lapland will see snow, up to about 5 centimetres in some places and sleet.
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