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Building stock 2012

Most of the building stock was residential buildings

At the end of 2012 there were 1,475,000 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 450 million square metres. The average gross floor area of all buildings was about 309 square metres; in other than residential buildings the average gross floor area was about 824 square metres. Residential buildings accounted for 63 per cent of the total gross floor area.

Table 2. Number of buildings by intended use on 31 Dec. 2012

                 Buildings Per cent of total buildings (%)
BUILDINGS TOTAL 1 474 653 100,0
A.Residential buildings 1 258 095 85,3
Detached houses 1 122 315 76,1
Attached houses 77 931 5,3
Blocks of flats 57 849 3,9
C-N Other bulldings 216 558 14,7
C Commercial buildings 42 580 2,9
D Office buildings 10 907 0,7
E Traffic buildings 55 915 3,8
F Institutional buildings 8 414 0,6
G Buildings for assembly 13 826 0,9
H Educational buildings 8 916 0,6
J Industrial buildings 41 799 2,8
K Warehouses 28 582 1,9
L,N Other bulldings 5 619 0,4

The building stock grew by 15,000

There were 1,475,000 buildings in Finland at the end of 2012. The building stock grew by 14,900 from the year before. The number of buildings has increased by 312,000, or by about 27 per cent, from 1990. There are about 78,000 old buildings completed prior to 1921, i.e. only five 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

67 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. 68 per cent, of the population in Finland live in buildings with one or two storeys. There were 27,000 buildings with four storeys or more and just over one million (1,127,000) Finns lived in them. Buildings with ten storeys and more are quite rare. There are approximately 300 such landmarks in Finland, 200 of them blocks of flat.


Source: Buildings and Free-time Residences, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marja Hermiö 09 1734 3211, Arja Tiihonen 09 1734 3272, Elina Aspblad-Huohvanainen 09 1734 3232, asuminen@stat.fi

Director in charge: Riitta Harala


Updated 24.5.2013

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Buildings and free-time residences [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-6796. 2012, Building stock 2012 . Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 25.4.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/rakke/2012/rakke_2012_2013-05-24_kat_002_en.html