Four esteemed companies in the property sector — CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield and KTI Property Information — have established the Helsinki Research Forum with the aim of improving the quality of the market data published on the commercial property market in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
“Better market data helps real estate investors and property owners make better decisions. This, in turn, supports the growth of the property market in the Helsinki metropolitan area and increases the transparency of the market in general. The Helsinki Research Forum will work in partnership with RAKLI, which represents property owners and construction clients. RAKLI will provide the framework and technical assistance for this collaboration,” says Miika Kotaniemi, Director, Real Estate Investment at RAKLI.
The purpose of the research group is to produce regularly published summaries of the non-confidential data generated in the business activities of its members. In the early stages, the focus will be on technical specifications of the property stock in the office market and the geographical delineation of the submarkets. The plan is to expand the collaboration later to also include data on the take-up of premises and the vacancy rates for properties.
“The transparency of the property market in Finland is at a good level, but there is still room for improvement. Conflicting information related to submarket-specific vacancy rates, for example, have occasionally led to confusion among international investors,” says Tero Lehtonen, CEO of JLL Finland.
“By increasing openness and transparency, we aim to improve the services in the property sector and provide accurate market data to clients and investors to support their decision-making and for the real estate market in general. Market research forums such as this have produced good results in other European countries, and we now want to bring these proven practices to Finland,” adds Jussi Niemistö, Head of Research at CBRE Finland.
“Harmonised specifications for basic market data, such as the delineation of submarkets and information on the property stock will create a reliable foundation for even more accurate and useful property market analyses and indicators. They will enable us to work together to further improve the transparency of the Finnish property market and the reliability of market data,” says Markus Steinby, Director, Client Relations and Business Development at KTI.
The results of the collaborative forum will be published in the Helsinki Research Forum section of the RAKLI website. The information will be available to the public free of charge. Information on the delineation of the submarkets has already been published on the website. RAKLI recommends that in future its members use the published delineations of the submarkets in their publications of property market information.
More information:
Miika Kotaniemi, RAKLI
+358 40 702 0015
Tero Lehtonen, JLL Finland
+358 40 565 5389
Jussi Niemistö, CBRE Finland
+358 40 537 5760
Markus Steinby, KTI Property Information
+358 50 464 7587
Ville Suominen, Cushman & Wakefield Finland
+358 44 568 4300
