Saariselkä listing seeks 2,190 euros for a 14-square-metre flat

A rental listing for a 14-square-metre flat in Saariselkä is asking 2,190 euros a month, Yle reports. The price has surprised even a local property broker.

The furnished flat, advertised for two people, is about one kilometre from the centre of Saariselkä, a tourist resort in Inari. The listing says the room has furniture and textiles from different eras, while the bunk bed is new. The owners and the person who prepared the listing, who is from Pirkanmaa, declined to comment to Yle.

Tommi Kekkonen of Saariselän Kiinteistövälitys LKV, which brokers holiday properties and short-term rentals, said the asking price reflects a housing shortage in Inari. Seasonal workers arriving in Lapland struggle to find accommodation, a problem also affecting Kittilä, Rovaniemi and Kolari. Rents can be higher when a property is let only for the winter season and sits empty in summer, he said.

Kekkonen said rents for his short-term properties can reach 2,000 to 3,000 euros a month in March. Those properties, however, are 25 to 30 square metres, have their own sauna and are in central Saariselkä. He gave another example: a 30-square-metre studio with a 14-square-metre loft costs about 800 euros, with electricity and water paid by the tenant.

Modular buildings originally designed for a nuclear power plant construction site in Pyhäjoki have been brought to the area in an effort to ease the shortage for seasonal workers. Kekkonen said this was not enough and suggested the municipality consider new rental housing as an investment rather than a cost. He said reasonably priced rental homes can help people settle permanently in the area, while demand also exists for affordable homes to buy and holiday properties near Saariselkä.