The trade of new apartments has nearly ground to a halt during the spring and fall seasons. In the wake of past years construction booms, construction companies find themselves with a surplus of recently completed or soon-to-be-finished units, which currently remain vacant due to sluggish demand. As the real estate market faces stagnation, developers are resorting to offering a variety of incentives to spur sales.
Price fixing claims have not prompted housing associations to switch building management firms.
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV) alleges building management companies and the industry federation agreed on fees for management services and strove to push up price levels in the sector nationwide between 2014 and 2017.
Image: Henrietta Hassinen / Yle
Few housing associations opted to switch building management firms after news of suspected price fixing emerged this past winter, an Yle study finds.
Mia Koro-Kanerva of the Real Estate Management Federation said that while the case had cast suspicion on the entire sector, it was still relatively rare for housing associations to fire their management company.