There are now small, but positive signs that Finland's construction industry is slowly starting to recover.

According to a report by the Ministry of Finance, construction in general will start to take off again this year.

Residential construction is not expected to pick up until next year because of the large number of unsold new homes still on the market.

However, the oversupply is projected to decrease due to population growth and migration.

While the industry's recovery is still affected by the uncertain global economic situation, increasing demand for housing, falling interest rates and declining inflation are expected to boost the sector's recovery.

Greater demand for business premises

Demand for business premises is higher than for housing, and is expected to further increase this year and next.

The need for more data centres, investments in the green transition, anddefence procurement of equipment and services are expected to increase the need for large premises.

More jobs in the sector

The construction sector has also been struggling in terms of employment. Duunitori, which advertises itself as the country's biggest job search platform, has seen an increase in job vacancies in the sector.

In the first three months of the year, more than 10,000 job advertisements related to the construction sector were published by Duunitori. This is about 12 per cent more than during the same period of last year.

According to Duunitori, the figure stands out because the number of job advertisements has fallen in all other major sectors this year.

Even so, the number of jobs advertised in the construction sector this year is significantly lower than in 2023.

Tower blocks and 2,200 jobs

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A lot of new housing and commercial space is coming to the vicinity of Helsinki's Pasila station and Tripla shopping centre in the next few years.

A zoning plan approved by the Helsinki City Council on Wednesday gave approval to the construction of four new tower blocks in the area.

If the plan goes ahead, the tallest of the new buildings will be a 120 metre office tower. The new plan allows for three of the towers to be built as residential buildings, but also allows for the construction of hotels.

This major construction project would increase Pasila's population by around 1,100 and create 2,200 new jobs.

The new block will also include an open space for leisure activities and pedestrian routes through the area.

While Pasila is one of the most important sites for office development in Helsinki, and the aim is to also build a large number of residential flats in the area.

Housing prices down in February

According to preliminary data from Statistics Finland prices of older dwellings in housing companies declined in February. In the whole country, prices were down 1.4 percent year-on-year and 0.5 percent compared with January.

Prices fell more in large cities than in the rest of the country. Prices declined most in Turku, where the drop from last year was 5 percent.

However, the market has heated up with 34 percent more sales of housing in older blocks of flats and of terraced houses made through estate agents in February than a year earlier.

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