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What does buying a flat cost?

The costs of buying a flat in Finland at purchase, every month and when you sell: transfer tax, the loan, housing company charges, renovations, ASP and tax on the gain.

Updated 5 October 2026

When you buy a flat in a housing company (taloyhtiö), you buy shares that give you the right to occupy it. The price is only part of the cost. Some costs are paid once at purchase, some every month and some only when you sell.

Debt-free price and the company loan

Listings often show two prices. The selling price is what you pay the seller. The debt-free price (velaton hinta) is the selling price plus the flat's share of the housing company's loan.

The company loan is repaid through a monthly finance charge (rahoitusvastike). When comparing two flats, the debt-free price is the better measure.

One-off costs

Transfer tax is 1.5% of the debt-free price for contracts signed on or after 12 October 2023. Before that it was 2%. On a debt-free price of €300,000, for example, the tax is €4,500. It is due within two months of the purchase, or at signing when a real estate agent handles the sale.

The first-time buyer exemption from transfer tax is gone. It applied only to contracts signed before 1 January 2024.

Your own funds. A housing loan may be at most 95% of the fair value of the collateral. Under a decision by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), this cap has applied to all housing loans since 1 July 2026; before that, the cap for loans other than first-home loans was 90%. The rest comes from your own funds or extra collateral.

Monthly costs

The mortgage. You pay interest and repayments. Mortgage interest is no longer tax-deductible; the deduction ended on 1 January 2023.

The maintenance charge (hoitovastike) covers the housing company's running costs. According to Statistics Finland, the charges for flats in blocks of flats averaged €5.90 per m² a month in Greater Helsinki and €4.55 in the rest of Finland in 2025.

The finance charge (rahoitusvastike) pays the housing company's loan, if it has one.

Housing company renovations. The company charges owners for work such as pipe, facade and roof renovations. When they come depends on the age of the building.

Repairs to your own flat, such as the kitchen, bathroom or floors, are paid by the owner. Tenants and right-of-occupancy residents do not pay them.

For ASP savers

The ASP system is for first-time home buyers. You can start saving at 18 or over if you have not owned 50% or more of a home before.

  • Save at least 10% of the price of the home, in at least 20 approved monthly deposits.
  • The ASP loan is at most €230,000 for one person or €345,000 for two in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen, Tampere, Turku and Oulu, and €160,000 or €240,000 elsewhere.
  • The state pays an interest subsidy of 70% of the interest above 3.8%, for at most the first ten loan years.

When you sell

The gain is tax-free when you have owned the flat for at least two years and lived in it yourself or with your family, permanently and continuously, for at least two years.

Otherwise you pay capital income tax on the gain: 30% up to €30,000 and 34% above. You can deduct the purchase price, the transfer tax, improvements and brokerage and registration fees. Or you can use a presumptive acquisition cost: 20% of the selling price when you have owned the flat for under ten years, and 40% when you have owned it longer.

Selling also costs the agent's fee and marketing, which you agree with the agent.

Work out your own case

The comparison on Asumisvalinta includes these costs: transfer tax, the loan, charges, renovations, selling costs and taxes. It shows year by year how buying does against renting and right of occupancy in the area you choose.

Compare a flat

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