Luxury apartments in Tampere sold with discounts worth hundreds of thousands of euros

Developers in Tampere are offering months of free maintenance fees and other incentives to sell high-end apartments amid a prolonged slump in the new housing market, reports Finnish broadcaster Yle.

Dozens of luxury city apartments remain unsold in central Tampere, including a penthouse in the Opaali tower priced at €2.13 million. To boost sales, builders are covering maintenance fees—sometimes for an entire year—or even capital charges, with discounts reaching up to hundreds of thousands of euros.

SRV, the developer behind the Opaali tower near Tampere Arena, is offering buyers the remaining 2024 maintenance and capital fees for unsold units. Despite completing construction in 2022, around 20 apartments in the 26-storey building remain on the market. The company has over €9 million tied up in unsold units, with ongoing costs adding to the financial strain.

The slowdown extends beyond Opaali. A nearby apartment block built by Tampere Missio, a nonprofit, has sold only two of its 61 owner-occupied units since completion in January. The €40 million project, financed through loans, also includes 30 rental apartments. “We hope sales will soon cover the debts,” said Arja Laitinen, the organisation’s executive director.

Industry experts attribute the stagnation to a widening price gap between new and resale homes. While prices for older apartments have fallen annually, new builds—burdened by high construction costs—have little room for reductions. “The difference has grown too large,” said Isto Matalamäki, sales director at OP Koti Tampere.

Real estate agents report that incentives like fee waivers are now common for completed but unsold projects. “Developers seem to prefer waiting for better market conditions rather than slashing prices,” Matalamäki noted. Mika Valjakka of Tampere’s Huoneistokeskus added that such campaigns signal urgency: “We didn’t see these when the market was stronger.”

Tampere currently has around 1,000 new apartments listed, part of a national backlog estimated at 2,500 unsold units as of March. Analysts suggest luxury projects like Opaali, completed just as economic conditions worsened in late 2022, face the steepest challenges. “These high-end apartments were hit hardest,” Matalamäki said, while Valjakka observed a shift in buyer preferences toward affordable or family-sized homes.

Despite the downturn, Tampere Missio’s Laitinen remains optimistic: “There are still people who can afford these homes—they’re just taking longer to decide.”