Foreign language speakers in Finland also prefer home with Sauna

A significant number of foreign language speakers living in Finland prefer to buy home along with sauna, according to a survey commissioned by the OP Financial Group.

A large proportion of foreign language speakers viewed that an ideal home should be spacious and calm, and a private sauna in the home is also an important criterion, said OP in a press release on Friday referring to the survey.

"A private sauna in the home was also high on the wish list, as it was selected by 23% of respondents as one of the top three criteria,” said Lasse Palovaara, Head of OP Koti.

Finland is home to approximately half a million foreign-language speakers, and the number will only increase in the future, particularly in cities, Palovaara said.

Foreign-language speakers in Finland said that they value living in an area that offers good services and public transport connections as well as safety and proximity to nature.

The share of foreign-language speakers is increasing, particularly in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.

A total of 22% of foreign-language speakers have already bought a home, and 34% are considering buying a home.

In the survey, foreign-language respondents said that they value the area being quiet and calm, which was one of the three most important criteria when looking for a home for 61% of respondents. The next most common criteria were the home being spacious, having a balcony and having a private garden.

Respondents who had moved to Finland in the past year said that they mainly came to Finland due to their own or their spouse's work or studies.

The respondents' preferred places to live were Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Turku and Vantaa, all major Finnish cities.

When asked what their criteria were for choosing their preferred places to live, as many as 70% of respondents selected the proximity of services as one of their top three criteria. Good public transport connections were selected by 50% of respondents, and the safety of the area by 39%.

On the other hand, only 4% of respondents found it important for there to be people from different cultures living in the area.

"Based on the survey, what people wish for and need from housing seems to be fairly universal. Surprisingly, the thoughts of foreign-language speakers differ only slightly from what Finnish people in general and people in the Uusimaa region want from their housing. For example, according to the Oikotie statistics, the most popular searches for homes in Uusimaa are related to detached houses and three-room apartments," said Satu Astala, Managing Director of OP Koti Uusimaa.

The survey was conducted by Taloustutkimus in September and October 2024 where a total of 2164 people living in Finland, who speak something other than Finnish, Swedish or Sámi as their mother language.

Such comprehensive surveys regarding housing wishes have not previously been conducted for foreign-language speakers in Finland.

"The majority of the respondents said they live in apartment buildings. However, nearly half the respondents said their ideal home would be a detached house, which sounds very familiar when compared to typical Finnish housing ideals," Palovaara added.

Currently, 72% of the respondents live in apartment buildings, but 47% said they would prefer to live in a detached house. Only 13% of respondents currently live in detached houses.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points for the entire respondent group.