House prices fall across Finland — except in Arctic city of Rovaniemi

Rovaniemi’s record tourism season is evident in the town’s property market.
Real estate prices rose last year in only one location: Rovaniemi. That’s according to the latest data from Statistics Finland.
Property prices rose by some 2.2 percent in the town last year.
“Rovaniemi has less housing supply than other towns,” said Senior Statistician Anu Rämö in a press release. “Sales times for old apartments are also relatively short there.”
Rovaniemi’s price trends diverge significantly from the rest of Finland, as the average price change last year was a 3.3 percent decline compared to prices in 2023.
“Overall the price of older dwellings fell more slowly in 2024, especially towards the end of the year,” said Rämö. “Transactions through an estate agent rose four percent compared to the previous year, but were down a third compared to 2021 and down 20 percent compared to 2020.”
From the start of last year the real estate market has been historically sluggish. Between January and March there were a little over 10,000 sales of older apartments, and a little under 500 newbuild properties.
The direction of travel changed during the course of the year, however, and the number of transactions rose in every quarter, according to the Federation of Real Estate Agency, an industry body.
In the longer term, the property market in 2023 and 2024 has been especially weak.