Foreigners can buy homes in Finland, and most do it the same way Finns do: with an estate agent, a bank and a signature. What trips newcomers up is that 'buying a flat' and 'buying a house' are two different legal transactions in Finland, with different paperwork, different tax rates and different registers.

Two kinds of property

Real estate (kiinteistö) in Finnish law is a registered unit of land — a plot, a forest, a lake shore — together with the buildings on it. It has a property identifier and sits in the cadastre, which is covered in property register and cadastre. A detached house on its own plot, a summer cottage or a piece of forest is real estate.

A flat is normally not real estate at all. Blocks of flats, and many terraced houses, are owned by a housing company (asunto-osakeyhtiö), which owns the building and often the land. You buy shares in the company, and those shares give you the right to occupy one specific flat. In practice, it behaves like ownership. Legally, you have bought securities, which is why the rules below differ.

A third, less common case is a house on a leased plot: you buy the building and take over the ground lease. That is covered in renting out your property, together with how ground leases are registered.

Can a foreigner buy?

Yes. Buying a flat — shares in a housing company — needs no permission from anyone, whatever your nationality.

Since the beginning of 2020, buyers from outside the EU and the EEA need a permit from the Ministry of Defence to buy real estate. The rule covers private individuals who are not nationals of an EU or EEA state, companies based outside the EU and EEA, and EU or EEA companies in which such a party holds at least 10 per cent. It is decided by nationality, so a permanent residence permit does not exempt you.

No permit is needed for:

Apply as early as you can, and no later than two months after the transaction, in the ministry's property surveillance e-service. The fee, as checked, is €210 paid online or €280 if you want an invoice, per property. If a purchase goes through and the permit is then refused, the buyer has to sell or otherwise give up the property within six months. Since July 2025, the ministry can also block purchases by nationals of states it considers to be waging a war of aggression; it names Russia and Belarus among them.

Buying a flat

Before you bid

Most flats are sold through an estate agent. Before making an offer, get the housing manager's certificate (isännöitsijäntodistus). It tells you the age of the building, the size of the flat, the flat's share of the housing company's loans, the repairs done and the repairs planned. Planned repairs are the most significant, because the owners pay for them, and the certificate is where you see them coming. Ask as well for the energy certificate, the articles of association, the latest financial statements and budget, and recent minutes of the shareholders' meetings.

Adverts show two prices. The sale price is what you pay the seller. The debt-free price is the sale price plus the flat's share of the housing company's loans, which you go on paying through a monthly financing charge on top of the ordinary maintenance charge. Compare flats based on the debt-free price.

Your duty to look

You have to inspect the flat properly at the viewing. You cannot later claim for a defect you would have noticed in a normal inspection. The seller, for their part, has to tell the agent about major defects, and these should be written into the deed. For a new-build flat, the seller arranges a pre-move inspection before you pay the final instalment, and a first-year inspection 12–15 months after the building is commissioned.

The deal

A flat purchase is made in writing and needs no witness. A deposit is usually paid when the offer is accepted and set against the price. If you then pull out, what the seller can keep is capped: a contractual penalty or forfeited deposit can be no more than 4 per cent of the sale price.

Transfer tax and registration

Transfer tax on housing company shares is 1.5 per cent of the debt-free price. If an estate agent handles the sale, you pay it when you sign; otherwise, you have two months. The first-time buyer exemption, which many older guides still describe, ended with contracts signed after 31 December 2023.

Newer housing companies, and older ones that have converted, keep their share register electronically at the National Land Survey (Maanmittauslaitos, MML) instead of issuing paper share certificates. For a flat in one of these, you apply to MML to register your ownership within two months of the purchase; the fee, as checked, is €92. You are recorded as the owner only after the Tax Administration has told MML that the transfer tax has been paid. Where the company still has paper share certificates, you can convert yours to an electronic record by applying to register your ownership at MML.

Buying real estate

Documents to check

Before signing, look at recent copies of:

The seller can give them to you, or you can buy them from MML's e-service for €16 each, as checked. Ask the municipality's building control about building permits, zoning and building rights, and use MML's purchase price register to see what comparable properties sold for.

Your duty to look, again

The rule is the same as for a flat, but the ground is larger. Inspect the house, the outbuildings, the plot and the boundaries before you sign; a defect you could have found cannot be claimed for later. A professional condition inspection is optional and useful, but it will not find everything hidden in a structure. A clause stating that the seller has disclosed everything they know does not, by itself, end the seller's liability for incorrect information.

Existing mortgages

If the certificate shows mortgages, agree with the seller whether they will be paid off or transferred to you or your bank, and write it into the deed. Otherwise, the property can continue to secure the seller's debt. How mortgages work is covered in getting a mortgage in Finland.

Signing

A real estate deed must be in writing, and there are two ways to sign it:

If you are buying only part of a property, attach a map marking the area.

Transfer tax and registration of title

Transfer tax on real estate is 3 per cent. It was 4 per cent until the change that applies to contracts signed from 12 October 2023. You file the return and pay in MyTax before you apply for registration of title; in the Property Transaction Service, it has to be paid by the date of the contract.

Registration of title (lainhuuto) is made at MML, no later than six months after the deed is signed. The fee, as checked, is €172. If you bought a parcel rather than a whole property, registering your title starts the survey that turns it into a property of its own.

Municipal pre-emption

A municipality can step into the buyer's place, on the terms in the deed, when it needs the land for building, recreation or conservation. This right covers properties of more than 5,000 m², or more than 3,000 m² in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. The municipality has three months to decide. It does not apply to sales between spouses or between a seller and their heirs. If you are buying a large plot, ask the municipality before you sign.

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