The ASP loan and ASP saving: conditions, limits and interest subsidy

Updated 14 October 2026

ASP is Finland's state-supported way to save for a first home. It has three parts: saving on an ASP account, a bank's ASP loan with a state interest subsidy, and a free state guarantee on the loan. The system was reformed on 1 June 2026, and this guide covers the new rules.

The wider picture for first-time buyers, such as the loan cap, transfer tax and the cash you need, is in Buying your first home in 2026.

Who can save

You can start ASP saving at 18 or over if you have never acquired half or more of a home in Finland or abroad. There is no upper age limit. People aged 15 to 17 can also save, from their own earnings or other funds they control.

Two savers can combine their agreements to buy the same home.

Saving

• Save at least 10% of the price of the home. Deposits, interest and the bonus interest all count.
• Make at least 20 monthly deposits of €50 to €1,500 each. The first deposit is made when you open the account. Quarterly deposits are allowed only on accounts opened before 1 June 2026.
• The account earns 1% interest a year.
• When you buy with an ASP loan, the bank pays bonus interest of 2 to 4% on the savings used for the home. The exact rate is set in your ASP agreement. The bonus covers the year you started saving and at most the five calendar years after it, and it is paid when you buy.

No bonus interest is paid on savings above 10% of the price. If you withdraw savings before the loan, or buy a home during the saving period without ASP financing, the agreement ends: you lose the bonus interest, the subsidised loan and the free state guarantee.

For the full ASP loan you need €25,556 of savings in Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, and €17,778 elsewhere. That is 10% of a home priced at €255,556 or €177,778.

The ASP loan

The ASP loan can be at most nine times your ASP deposits and at most 90% of the price of the home. The maximum subsidised loans from 1 June 2026 are:

If the home costs more, the rest can come from an additional loan. It has its own repayment plan and no interest subsidy. By law, the rate a bank charges on an ASP loan must be lower than it would otherwise charge on a comparable first-home loan.

The loan term is at most 25 years when the loan is granted. You can take repayment holidays of up to four years in total, two years at a time, and with them the term can reach 29 years.

The same maximum loan buys flats of very different sizes. At the average price of two-room flats, the subsidised loan covers about 53 m² in Helsinki and about 120 m² in Oulu. The limit is lower outside the seven cities, so in Kuopio and Vaasa the loan covers a smaller flat than in Turku, even though prices per m² are lower.

Interest subsidy or rate protection

Interest subsidy. The state pays 70% of the interest above 3.8% of the remaining principal. The subsidy runs for at most ten years from the first drawdown.

Rate protection. Instead of the subsidy you can choose a bank's interest rate protection, agreed with the bank and possibly for a fee. The municipal maximums then do not apply to the loan. The choice is final.

The interest subsidy is insurance against rising rates. While the rate on your loan is 3.8% or less, no subsidy is paid.

Since 2015 the average rate on new housing loans was above 3.8% in only 16 months, from May 2023 to August 2024. In August 2026 the average was 3.24%. The rate on your own loan depends on the reference rate and the bank's margin, so it can be above or below the average.

The example is an ASP loan of €230,000, repaid as a 25-year annuity. At 4% the subsidy averages €27 a month in the first year, and at 5% it averages €159. If the rate stayed at 5%, the subsidy would add up to about €17,000 over ten years. At the October 2023 average of 4.43%, it would have been €84 a month in the first year.

State guarantee

A free state guarantee can be added to the ASP loan. The state is liable for at most 25% of the outstanding principal, up to €60,000. The guaranteed loan can be at most 90% of the price of the home. On an additional loan the guarantee carries a fee.

Living in an ASP home

While the subsidy runs, the home must be your permanent residence. You can rent it out, leave it empty or use it otherwise for up to two years in total. Longer use of another kind is reported to the State Treasury, and the subsidy stops. After the subsidy period there are no restrictions.

ASP account or an ordinary savings account

An ASP account earns a base rate of 1%. The average rate on new household deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year was 2.53% in August 2026. The ASP advantage therefore comes when you buy: that is when you get the bonus interest, the subsidised loan and the free state guarantee.

With the bank's agreement you can also use other savings for the purchase. They do not increase the ASP loan, which is calculated from ASP deposits only.

Work out your own case

The comparison on Asumisvalinta includes the ASP loan and its interest subsidy. It shows year by year how buying does against renting and right of occupancy in the area you choose.

Compare a flat

Sources

• Laki asuntosäästöjärjestelmästä 339/2025 (Act on the housing savings system), in force from 1 June 2026, read 14 October 2026: sections 2 to 5, 9, 10, 12 to 17 and 43.
• Valtioneuvoston asetus asuntosäästöjärjestelmästä 363/2026 (Government Decree on the housing savings system), read 14 October 2026.
• ASP-säästäminen ja ASP-laina, State Treasury, updated 10 August 2026, and Ohje asuntosäästölainoitukseen (ASP) 1.6.2026 alkaen (instructions for ASP lending), read 14 October 2026.
• ASP-korkotukilainan enimmäismäärät nousevat ja alueelliset rajat selkeytyvät, Finnish Government, 13 May 2026.
• Rates on new housing loans and rates on new deposits with an agreed maturity of up to one year, Finland, ECB Data Portal, August 2026. Source: ECB statistics.
• Prices of dwellings in housing companies, Statistics Finland, table 15is: prices per m² of old two-room flats in blocks of flats, 2025Q3 to 2026Q2, averaged with the number of sales as weights. Figures for 2026 are preliminary. Source: Statistics Finland, CC BY 4.0.
• The interest subsidy is calculated with the Asumisvalinta scenario engine.