Antti Häkkiänen, the Minister of Defense of Finland, announced his intention to limit real estate transactions in Finland for non-EU residents. At the same time, Anu Sallinen, the adviser to the Minister of Defense of Finland, explained that the aforementioned limitations are focused exclusively on real estate transactions carried out by Russian citizens.
“Finland intends to introduce more strict conditions for issuing permits for real estate transactions by individuals and companies from outside the borders of the European Union and the European Economic Area in general. The search for legal reasoning for this decision, which is to be adopted in the spring, is in process,” said Finnish Defense Minister.
According to Häkkiänen, the implementation of restrictions will be conducted, for example, through a more detailed analysis and control of real estate rental agreements as well as a more thorough background check of the sold objects.
Also, all non-EU or non-EEA residents willing to buy property in Finland must now obtain a purchase permit from the Ministry of Defence of Finland.
To provide some perspective, it is worth mentioning that the number of real estate purchasing deals concluded by Russians has increased by 64% in 2022 compared to 2021 in spite of different sanctions imposed on Russia. Russians conducted 298 real estate deals in 2022, compared to 182 in 2021.
Such a high amount of real estate deals in Finland was observed way back in 2014, when 287 real estate objects had been sold to Russian citizens.