“This year forest property prices have remained stable or risen,” stressed forest property market expert Hannu Liljeroos at the Metsät&raha (Forests and Money) event. Finland has seen a great many forest property transactions, with ten percent more properties put up for sale than at the same time last year.
“Many forest owners in Finland are people aged 75-80. In my view, they are now parting with their properties, either passing them on to family members or putting them up for sale,” says Hannu Liljeroos. The expert spoke in early October at the Metsät&raha event organised by Metsälehti in Tampere. Metsälehti readers know Hannu Liljeroos from his monthly forest property price monitoring reports on Hannun Hintaseuranta.
This year forest property prices have remained stable and have even risen; they have not fallen anywhere in Finland. In comparing prices, Liljeroos has taken the characteristics of the properties into account.
An interesting way to invest money
In Liljeroos's view, the range of forest property buyers is a diverse one, which shows that forests are an interesting investment opportunity. Liljeroos uses the term “institutional buyers” for those with greater resources at their disposal than private individuals. The major forest property managers Tornator, United Bankers and Conifer Consulting have acquired the largest areas of forest land in Finland over the past three years, accounting in euro terms for more than half of all so-called institutional purchases.
The share of large companies in all forest property transactions has nevertheless fallen from almost 50% in 2023 to 40% this year. This means that private individuals' interest in buying forest land in Finland has grown.
The value of forest land is rising
The price per hectare of Finnish forest land is rising. This is linked to the dynamics of felling site prices. On average, 80% of the price of forest land is made up of the valuation of the felling sites on the property in question.
Hannu Liljeroos began monitoring forest property prices back in 2014. He has now analysed the price per hectare in the early years of the monitoring – from 2014 to 2016 – comparing it with the period 2023-2025. Over the monitored period the price per hectare of forest land has risen by as much as 89%. The expert stresses that the volume of timber must also be taken into account: the fact is that the volume of timber offered for sale has increased. During the review period the volume of timber per hectare across the country has grown by about ten cubic metres, and in Lapland by as much as twice that.