In the Helsinki metropolitan area, it is already daring to build homes for “pearl destinations” and may anticipate rents to rise

From housing construction Gently flashes of light flashes. The construction of the apartments has been sluggish since 2022, when the rapid rise in interest rates has greatly impaired the housing market.

Construction company SRV said In February to launch construction and sale of the first owner -occupied property since 2022.

The site is relatively small, about 50 apartment blocks of apartment block in Niittykumpu, Espoo, but the first signs that the deep ice can start to melt. The construction of the item started immediately.

NREP, a Danish real estate investment company, said last week that it would launch a construction project of over one hundred million euros in Herttoniemi, Helsinki. The project’s contractor Lujatalo aims to start construction in the autumn, and a total of more than 500 rental and nursing homes will be completed in the target block.

The destination is the largest since 2022, but not the first. Already in the autumn, the real estate investor started construction of nearly 200 rental homes in Arabianranta, Helsinki with Jolla.

SRV’s Niittykumpu and Nrep’s Arabianranta sites are scheduled to be completed in 2026 and the NREP Herttoniemi project in stages each year in 2027-2028, when the demand for housing is expected to exceed supply in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

SRV And NREP are few actors who have launched ownership and Vuokka housing projects, and there are no signs that real estate investors and construction companies will be widely promoted to promote their projects on the shelf.

For example, in February, Kojamo and Sato said in February, when they were announcing their profit reports, they would continue to refrain from launching new projects.

SATO set off new projects in October 2022, and so far the last new destination was completed in December last year.

In the first half of last year, Kojamo also completed homes for projects previously launched and in the autumn it launched one previously agreed development project in Helsinki. The company did not make new investment decisions over the past year.

SRV Dared to launch their owner -occupied housing project because more than half of the project’s homes were reserved during pre -marketing.

The project’s homes were three months in pre -marketing, which is a typical marketing time in a normal market situation.

“The fact that we reached such a high level of reservation in a reasonably short pre -marketing period can be interpreted as a good sign of the construction market,” says the company’s Helsinki Metropolitan Housing Business Director Jorma Seppä.

However, according to SePä, the Niittykumpu project is a kind of “pearl destination” of the construction company: it is located in a good location and well -transport links and is also energy efficient.

There is demand for such projects in a “more challenging market,” Seppä says.

Rental housing project Starting currently requires three things. Nrep’s Finnish Country Manager Joonas Lemström says the project must first be in a “really good” place. There must be good demand for rental homes in the area and a relatively high rent level.

Secondly, according to Lemström, the cost of a construction contract must be “reasonable”. Thirdly, the project requires a plot priced for the current market situation, that is, the price of the plot must now be lower than before the market turn in 2022.

Overtime has reduced construction costs and rent. Plot prices, on the other hand, are usually very slow.

“There are quite a few plots on the market that are priced at today,” says Lemström.

NREP also sees the recovery of the owner -occupied housing market as the recovery of three factors: the oversuking of housing should be discharged, consumer confidence improves at the current low level, and the reference rate for mortgage interest rates in the current one.

NREP is currently building a little with its plot reserve because rental housing projects are “too tight,” Lemström says.

“The housing equation currently operates only in the strongest locations in Helsinki and Espoo.”

For example, it is not possible to start construction in Espoo, Eastern and Northern Helsinki or Vantaa, as rents are lower in the areas and because there is not enough demand for owner-occupied homes.

To Helsinki In recent years, a record number of new residents has changed, and the city’s population has increased by about 10,000 in residents each year. At the same time, housing start -ups have been in the lower countries.

Ownership and rental apartments are currently oversupply, as a long period of zero interest rate before 2022 guaranteed funding for the projects.

NREP expects the population of the population in the Helsinki metropolitan area to continue. According to the company’s forecasts, the growth of the population exceeds the housing supply between 2026 and 2027.

“We then see a situation where demand for housing exceeds supply. It means at least a moderate increase in rents. We have taken note of it in investments and we see the housing market in the Helsinki metropolitan area very attractive, ”says Lemström.