Silent Corruption...the Finnish Style?

The City of Helsinki had reserved a plot for the UPM headquarters, but the company applied for an extension for the reservation. The company was granted an extension until the end of June 2010. ”I have nothing to report on the matter”, commented Real Estate Manager Kaj-Erik Lindberg from UPM when questioned whether the forest giant plans to abandon the construction project entirely.

As far as is known the city has offered UPM the plot for a lower-than-normal price for ”industrial policy reasons”. The quoted price is approximately EUR 1,300 per square metre of permitted building volume.

Reportedly, Senate Properties intends to secure hundreds of euros more per square metre for its own plots of land.

”If the market price does not rise sufficiently high, we will not sell the plots at all”, notes Director Heikki Laitakari from Senate Properties

The last sentence make me fall off my chair...re-read it please... You can clearlu see that the current law accomodate speculation. In addition, the fact that in a very dense city as Helsinki, such beahviour is allowed is clearly outrageous. In most of developed countries land that is not used is heaveluy taxed in order to stop this type of counter productive behaviour...

Well law makers are sleeping or do not want to disturb the guys that fund them indirectly ...

Coming back to UPM, this shows you that big and old businesses (Wood, Banks, Energy, Media) are still in control of the political and economical landscape in this country...a big disapppointment.

Food for Thought...

Sometime ago I met a very wise man, most probably aged about 150 years - the type of person you can only find in the middle of a myst, he told me : "a picture, my son, is worth a thousand's politicians words." ..I was astonished....well in the meantime he faxed me the picture...

So here is the picture :

Total collapse of granted dwelling permits...to help you digest that I have extracted two major information.

First, the recovery of the housing market that seemed to have occured from 2003 has been completely invalidated thus implying that the price growth observed during that period is irrational.

Second, looking at the nose diving evolution of the trend, we are clearly in an unchartered territory, something not experienced since at least a decade ago.

Common Sense and Rationality...Help needed!

Output of the Finnish Economy...historical slump on the way

I did not know how and where to start in trying to express in few words some common sense and rationality on what is going in Finnish Finland peculiar housing and rental market.

Indeed, one has to travel around Europe in order to get enough distance for a better analysis on the situation, but if I have to put it in 2 words, it would be:
"Crap and Expensive"

Now in order to echo the words of the Finnish prime minister, the situation is bad but not as worse as the 1990's slump...I would like to extend his deep thinking by adding "NYT"...which basically mean "now" in Finnish cryptonic language. So indeed we are not as bad in the 1990's because the we are not yet there but not far. I suppose everything is deteriorating month after month, at almost all levels except in the showbiz (from Madonna to politicians corruption show).

That's it for now..switch off "the internet" and get a rest.
And those who are stress about buying...just have a rest of a year or two and relax... there is a better thing than dreaming about putting yourself between 4 walls.