Property trading in Finland – Russians bought Finnish property despite sanctions – News


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In 2022, Russian women bought 64 percent more houses than in the previous year. This was possible, among other things, because of open borders in summer.

Russians bought a striking number of properties in Finland last year – 64 percent more than in the previous year. These are mainly summer and weekend cottages. And this despite the fact that the conditions have been tightened because of the Ukraine war. For example, Russian nationals have not received tourist visas since autumn.

The reason for the high numbers is, on the one hand, the open borders from July to September. In this limited time window, Russians were able to enter Finland and also buy houses. There are also many people in Finland with a Russian passport: “Around 60,000 people. About 70 percent of house purchases and sales are made by Russians who already live in Finland,” explains Bruno Kaufmann. He is an SRF Northern Europe employee.

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The purchased properties are often located along the lakes in Finnish Karelia or in areas close to the border.

imago images/jetstream4/Panthermedia

Meanwhile, the situation with real estate trading looks different. Russians who do not live in Finland or in the Schengen area can hardly buy houses in Finland. For all other non-EU citizens, on the other hand, there are no changes. “The Finnish authorities currently do not see any specific problems with buying and selling real estate to foreigners, as long as they are not Russians,” says Bruno Kaufmann.

Bruno Kaufman

Bruno Kaufman

Northern Europe staff


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Bruno Kaufmann has been reporting regularly for SRF on Northern Europe, from Greenland to Lithuania, since 1990. He is also the global democracy correspondent at international service of the SRG with.

Nevertheless, the Finnish government rules out a total ban on sales to Russian nationals. According to the competent authorities, that would be against the Finnish constitution: Nobody who has a residence permit in Finland may be discriminated against because of their passport. In addition, according to the authorities, there is no danger from Russians who already live in Finland.

Finland and Russia have a long history together. But since the Russian attack on Ukraine about a year ago, the relationship between the two countries has changed. “The relationship has been like day and night since February 24, 2022,” said the Northern Europe employee. “Finns and Russians were never really good friends, but they were decent neighbors.”

At the border, people would try to maintain a certain normality, says Kaufmann. Well justified, because once the war is over and another government sits in Moscow: Finland and Russia will remain neighbors with a common border over 1,300 kilometers long.

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