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Finland: The prices of allotment garden cottages have risen with a rumble

Economist finds it unfair that Helsinki rents land at a price of 1.50 euros per square meter

By Bhavi Mandalia
Pledge Times
August 28, 2020

Excerpt:

Chairman of the Kumpula allotment garden association Erkki Tiainen according to the lease of the plot is being auctioned because the lease has had to be terminated due to a breach of contract. According to Tiainen, this is not common.

In Helsinki there are nine allotment garden areas, and the associations are for rent in the city of Helsinki. Leases for all allotment gardens are valid until 2026, and most were signed in 1997.

The cottage can only be purchased by a private individual registered in Helsinki, and they must not be rented on. The garden season runs from May to mid-September. It is not allowed to live in the cottages in winter.

Tiainen does not want to assess before the auction how high the sale price will be. Chairman of the Herttoniemi Allotment Garden Association Kaija Kumpukallio estimates that the price will rise to several tens of thousands of euros, even if the cottage itself has to be demolished.

According to Kumpukallio, it is difficult to estimate the average prices of allotment garden plots, because the prices are significantly affected by the condition of the cottage and its location in the area. According to him, cottages in good condition and in a good location in Herttoniemi can cost more than 100,000 euros. At its cheapest, you can get to the garden for about 50,000 euros, but then the money goes to renovating the cottage or building a new one. The construction costs of the new allotment garden cottage are talking about tens of thousands of euros.

Allotment garden cottages traditionally change owners rarely. Tiainen says that an exceptional number of stores have been made in Kumpula this year. That means “a dozen” shops, with a total of 267 cottages in the area.

Read the complete article here.