Rental housing

Demand for rental housing remained high in all municipalities where VVO Group has a presence. As in previous years, the strongest demand centred on smaller apartments, that is, studios and one-bedroom apartments.

The financial occupancy rate remained at a good level, standing at 97.5 (98.1) per cent for the review period. At the end of the review period, 472 (462) apartments were vacant due to renovations. The tenant turnover rate, which includes internal transfers, increased slightly from the corresponding period of the financial year 2014, that is, 20.4 (19.8) per cent.

The average rent for the Group’s 27,233 (26,493) market-based rental apartments (Lumo) was 13.74 (13.12) per sq m per month during the review period, and EUR 13.92 (13.27) at period end. The corresponding figures for the 13,666 (14,175) apartments rented at cost price (VVO) was EUR 12.72 (12.37) during the review period and EUR 12.80 (12.45) at period end.

At the end of the review period, there were 18,733 (22,133) active applications. (Applications are active for three months.) The average number of active applications per rental agreement termination was 19.7 (23.7). A total of 48,422 (54,752) new rental housing applications were received during the review period.

During the review period, we carried out development activities to make the renting of an apartment even easier for the customer. Immediately after the review period, at the beginning of October, we launched an online apartment rental service at www.lumo.fi/kotinyt. The Kotinyt.fi service is a new way to rent an apartment immediately: the customer chooses a suitable Lumo rental apartment, pays the rent for the first month and can move in on the next weekday, for instance. The first couple of days already showed that the new apartment rental service is a great success among new customers.

The average period of tenancy remained at an excellent level, 5.9 (5.9) years. Thanks to successful rental control and our housing advisory service, the proportion of annual turnover from rental operations accounted for by rent receivables remained low and stood at 1.2 (1.2) per cent at the end of the review period.

The results of the annual customer satisfaction survey were finalised and, according to them, tenant satisfaction in both Lumo and VVO apartments has remained high. Tenants are satisfied with customer service, the location of apartments, improved property maintenance, online services and the small rental deposit. Renovation opportunities and the Internet connection included in the rent were also commended.