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Building stock 2016 (Corrected on 20 June 2018)

Most of the building stock was residential buildings

Corrected on 20 June 2018. The correction is indicated in red.

At the end of 2016 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 474 million square metres. The average gross floor area of all buildings was about 315 square metres; in other than residential buildings the average gross floor area was about 828 square metres. Residential buildings accounted for 62 per cent of the total gross floor area.

Table 2. Number of buildings by intended use on 31 Dec. 2016

  Buildings Per cent of total buildings (%)
BUILDINGS TOTAL 1 512 241 100,0
A.Residential buildings 1 290 300 85,3
Detached houses 1 149 827 76,0
Attached houses 80 547 5,3
Blocks of flats 59 926 4,0
C-N Other bulldings 221 941 14,7
C Commercial buildings 43 250 2,9
D Office buildings 10 766 0,7
E Traffic buildings 56 322 3,7
F Institutional buildings 8 909 0,6
G Buildings for assembly 14 272 0,9
H Educational buildings 8 952 0,6
J Industrial buildings 43 252 2,9
K Warehouses 30 778 2,0
L,N Other buildings 5 440 0,4

The building stock grew by 7 100

There were 1 512 200 buildings in Finland at the end of 2016 The building stock grew by 7 100 from the year before. The number of buildings has increased by 349 800 , or by about 30 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 28 484 buildings with four storeys or more and just over one million (1 236 000) Finns lived in them. Buildings with ten storeys and more are quite rare. There are approximately 310 such landmarks in Finland, 220 of them blocks of flat.


Source: Buildings and Free-time Residences, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Marja Hermiö 029 551 3211, Arja Tiihonen 029 551 3272, info@stat.fi

Director in charge: Jari Tarkoma


Updated 24.5.2017

Referencing instructions:

Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Buildings and free-time residences [e-publication].
ISSN=1798-6796. 2016, Building stock 2016 (Corrected on 20 June 2018) . Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 28.3.2024].
Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/rakke/2016/rakke_2016_2017-05-24_kat_002_en.html