Fewer young families own their homes

The Nomad Today

10 de October de 2019 (16:11 h.)

An increasing number of young people postpone the purchase of their first home to a later age. The first home is on average purchased at a one-year older age than ten years ago.

Fewer and fewer families in Finland own their homes.

This trend is much clearer among younger generations: only among people over 75 years old increases the percentage of homes inhabited by their owners.

Among the household-dwelling units of younger age groups an increasingly smaller share lives in owner-occupied dwellings.

According to Statistics Finland's latest data, less than one-half of households of 30 to 34-year-olds lived in owner-occupied dwellings at the end of 2018. Ten years before, the share of such households was 58%.

Now, an increasing number of household-dwelling units chose to live in rented dwellings. Rental living has grown more common especially among those aged under 40.

Source: Statistics Finland.

Owner-occupancy lost some popularity

In total, 63% of all household-dwelling units lived in owner-occupied dwellings at the end of 2018. Owner-occupancy has lost some of its popularity as ten years ago, the corresponding share was still 66%.

Living in so-called non-subsidised rental dwellings is growing most in relative terms. 22% of household-dwelling units lived in non-subsidised rental dwellings at the end of 2018. A decade before, 15% of household-dwelling units lived in non-subsidised rental dwellings..

Fewer first-time homebuyers

According to Statistics Finland, there are fewer first-time homebuyers even though in recent years the number of first-time homebuyers has made a slight upturn.

In all, 22,000 persons were first-time buyers of dwellings in housing companies in 2018. The number of first-time homebuyers has fallen in Finland by 12,000 in roughly ten years. First-time buyers of dwellings in housing companies are centred on towns. Most first-time homebuyers (66%) were living in the ten biggest towns of Finland in the year of purchase.

An increasing number of young people postpone the purchase of their first home to a later age. The first home is on average purchased at a one-year older age than ten years ago. In 2018, the average age of first-time homebuyers was 28.8 years.