Several family homes empty in Espoo’s new single-family housing area

The housing market is slowly picking up, but new homes are not selling. The reasons are thought to be the unstable employment outlook and, on the other hand, the pricing of new homes.

Several new family apartments are empty in Nupur, Espoo.

YIT’s CEO Pekka Helin says that consumer uncertainty is reflected in the housing market.

Tuomas Viljamaa, CEO of the Finnish Real Estate Association, estimates that the high prices of new homes are making the transaction difficult.

Several new family homes have been standing empty for years in Nupur, Espoo.

Apartments built in 2023 have been vacant since their completion, even though demand for family homes is otherwise rising.

The residential area is located right next to Lake Nupurinjärvi and close to Nuuksio’s outdoor trails, along public transport connections.

Why aren’t apartments selling?

Pekka Helin, Director of Customer and Housing Services at construction company YIT, explains the empty apartments by consumers’ low confidence in their own future.

“Demand for housing is low, even though other elements in the economy have improved. Interest rates and inflation have fallen.”

According to Helin, consumers’ uncertainty about their own employment is particularly evident in apartments aimed at families.

“You have to think about the financial situation from the perspective of the whole family. If you don’t know what the future looks like, you don’t dare to make decisions.”

The residential area is located right in the arms of Lake Nupurinjärvi and close to Nuuksio’s outdoor trails. Photo: Mika Ranta / HS

Signs of recovery are visible in the housing market, especially in single-family and terraced house sales, according to statistics from the Finnish Real Estate Association.

The association’s CEO, Tuomas Viljamaa, believes that housing transactions in Nupur are being made more difficult by the pricing of new homes.

“In the apartments sold in Nupur, the prices per square meter have been just under 4,000 euros. In these apartments in question, the prices per square meter are quite high, 4,800–5,200 euros.”

According to Viljamaa, housing prices have decreased since 2022, especially in the northern parts of Espoo and Vantaa.

“It can be a big challenge for construction companies in terms of sales, although for the seller the situation looks brighter than it did a year ago.”

According to Viljamaa, there can be a price difference of up to 20 percent between a new and an old apartment, which is why consumers prefer old apartments.

Tuomas Viljamaa, CEO of the Finnish Real Estate Brokers Association, believes that housing transactions in Nupur are being made more difficult by the pricing of new homes. Photo: Mika Ranta / HS

YIT’s Pekka Helin believes that Nupur’s apartments have been priced consistently.

“We have based our decision on the market price when the buildings were designed. The price has also been determined based on the construction costs during the design phase.”

YIT negotiates each housing transaction separately. Both Helin and Viljamaa have noticed that people do not always know that you can make an offer on a new home.

“Customers do not make offers for new apartments as easily as they do for old apartments. This may be because new apartments have traditionally been sold at the so-called list price,” Helin believes.

New homes sometimes offer buyers benefits, such as payment of fees for a few months. Such promotional campaigns are relatively common, Viljamaa says.

Currently, the sale price of Mariabergintie apartments is being offered, for example, for six months free of fees.

“Lowering the price of a home is usually the last option,” says Viljamaa.