Finland: Immigrants buying homes

Finland: Immigrants buying homes


Finland’s immigrants are increasingly choosing to buy property rather than rent. In the past ten years the number of immigrant homeowners has nearly doubled, reports Helsingin Sanomat.


Many of the immigrants who moved to Finland in the early 1990s have planted roots in the country by buying homes.


Of all foreign residents who moved to Finland between 1989 and 1993, 40 percent owned a home in 2007, compared to 24 percent in 1997, according to Suvi Linnanmäki-Koskela, a researcher at Helsinki City’s Urban Facts Department. Her study is based on records from the Population Register Centre and the tax authorities.


Ownership has particularly shot up in some groups. For example, in 2007, 36 percent of Somalis owned flats, compared to just eight percent in 1997.

“This shows that the socioeconomic standing of immigrants improves the longer they stay in the country,” says Annika Forsander, the Director of Immigration Affairs in Helsinki.


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In comparison, 72 percent of all Finns and 51 percent of Helsinki residents live in a home of their own.

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Source: YLE (English)