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Building stock 2017

Most of the building stock was residential buildings

At the end of 2017 there were 1,5 buildings in Finland (excluding free-time residences and agricultural buildings). Most of the building stock, particularly residential buildings was built after the 1970s. The gross floor area of the building stock totalled about 482 million square metres. The average gross floor area of all buildings was about 319 square metres; in other than residential buildings the average gross floor area was about 830 square metres. Residential buildings accounted for 62 per cent of the total gross floor area.

Table 3. Building by intended use, 31 December 2017

  Buildings Per cent of total buildings (%)
BUILDINGS TOTAL 1 523 196 100,0
A.Residential buildings 1 294 426 85,0
Detached houses 1 152 489 75,7
Attached houses 81 293 5,3
Blocks of flats 60 644 4,0
C-X Other bulldings 228 770 15,0
C Commercial buildings 43 868 2,9
D Office buildings 10 834 0,7
E Traffic buildings 57 760 3,8
F Institutional buildings 9 077 0,6
G Buildings for assembly 14 510 1,0
H Educational buildings 8 987 0,6
J Industrial buildings 45 870 3,0
K Warehouses 32 408 2,1
X Other buildings 5 456 0,4

The building stock grew by 11,000 buildings

There were 1,523,200 buildings in Finland at the end of 2017 The building stock grew by 11,000 from the year before. The number of buildings has increased by 361,000 or by about 31 per cent, from 1990. There are about 79,000 old buildings completed prior to 1921, i.e. only 5 per cent of the building stock. Three-quarters of the building stock were detached houses. Blocks of flats and terraced houses accounted for only one-tenth of the total number of buildings. Blocks of flats accounted for about one-third of the total gross floor area of all residential buildings.

Two-thirds one-storey buildings

66 per cent of the building stock were one-storey buildings. That is because three-quarters of the building stock were detached houses. One and two-storey buildings account for altogether 95 per cent of the total building stock. A total of 3,6 million, i.e. 67 per cent, of the population in Finland live in buildings with one or two storeys. There were 29,000 buildings with four storeys or more and just over one million (1,261,000) Finns lived in them. Buildings with ten storeys and more are quite rare. There are approximately 315 such landmarks in Finland, 224 of them blocks of flat. There were 94 buildings with more than twelve storeys, 59 of them were listed in register as residential buildings.


Source: Buildings and Free-time Residences, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Otto Kannisto 029 551 3044, Marja Hermiö 029 551 3211, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma


Updated 25.5.2018

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Buildings and free-time residences [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-6796. 2017, Building stock 2017 . Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 29.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/rakke/2017/rakke_2017_2018-05-25_kat_002_en.html