How did you manage that!?! It was my impression that increasing housing prices is a problem all over, and that it partially stems from the mega trend of people moving to cities. Most countries have a lot of room to build houses, just not where people want to live!
So why is it different in Finland? Is there a lot of free space around then cities? Or doesn't everyone want to live in Helsinki?
I've been trying to sell my apartment in Helsinki for 4 years now. I've dropped the asking price multiple times and I'm now trying to sell at a huge loss. And yet, nobody will buy it.
The mega trend of people concentrating to largest cities also occurs in Finland. The housing market in Helsinki (where I'm unable to sell my place!) is much better than the housing market in more rural areas.
Well, it's a bit more complex. Some areas have gone vastly up in price. But there's also been a lot of building and new mass transit projects, making it possible to now commute from an area that was a bit more complicated before. For example metro expansion and associated building.
The home crisis can be solved if we insist that people can buy property only for living and not as an investment. Chinese are buying homes in Canada which is the reason for housing crisis there.
Problematic. Nearby city centre homes will be snatched up by those who have capital while others will have earn for 4-5 years to be in a position to buy
Exactly. If the problem is "Rich people and private equity are snatching up every home that gets built, as investments" then the solution cannot be "just build more homes." Those homes will just get snatched up by the same people.
So why is it different in Finland? Is there a lot of free space around then cities? Or doesn't everyone want to live in Helsinki?