About Finland

Finland famed for Lapland, home of the legendary Father Christmas and its world class ski resorts are now helping to fuel Finland’s quickly maturing tourist market, generating in turn a fast paced increase in interest from savvy Russian and European investors and holiday home buyers looking at this appealing property investment and buy to let market.

Yielding as many as six months snow fall per annum Finland’s world class skiing and snowboarding infrastructure helps support a steady influx of winter holiday makers and a strong rental return potential for those investors buying in tourist hotspots. Finland’s tourist figures saw an overall upturn of 30% last year alone for Russian visitors, whist Finland’s property prices still remain very affordable, property in Finland is a very interesting investment opportunity.

Finland’s property market has experienced an intense house price boom between 2002 and 2007 and some tourist hotspots have seen capital values increase by as much as 9.5% in recent years. Property investing in Finland is supported by a government placing no restrictions on foreigners buying Finnish property and real estate. Buying costs are relatively low averaging less than 10% of the properties purchase price. Transfer tax, although usually paid for by the purchaser, will sometimes be included in the purchase price when involving an agent and is a standard 4%.

Investors Fact File

• Finland has a growing tourist market, seeing a 30% increase last year alone from Russian tourists
• World class ski resorts
• Up to 6 months snow a year, providing a very viable buy to let market
• No restrictions on foreign property purchases
• Relatively low purchase costs, averaging less than 10% of the purchase price
• Affordable purchase prices

 Key Facts - Finland

	Climate - Finland has a severe winter climate similar to the likes of Alaska, giving perfect skiing conditions. Conversely the summer months can be surprisingly warm especially in the south.
	Cost of Living - Loaf of bread: €2 (£1.56p), bottle of wine: from €5 (£3.90)
	Currency - Euro. €1 = £0.81p
	Getting There - Finland has superb flight connections to airports from all over the world. Airlines such as Finnair and SAS operate scheduled flights to Helsinki from most major European cities as well as New York, San Francisco, Bangkok, Beijing, Cairo, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Around 22 further international airlines operate regular services to Helsinki.
	Time - GMT +2
	Population - 5.3 million