Between 2018 and 2025, an average of 250 forest properties were listed for sale at any given time. Since 2023, this number has increased to 350. In the residential property market, price reversals are often used as a leading indicator of changes in average selling times. This does not work in the same way for forest properties due to differences in the sales process: of the properties listed for sale in 2025, 84% had a predetermined deadline for submitting offers. However, longer selling times may indicate situations where the offer deadline has had to be extended in order to complete a transaction. Over the past year, the average selling time for publicly marketed properties has been 73 days, showing a slight increase.
Head of Forest Information Eero Viitanen comments on the market situation: “The impact of property characteristics on marketability is clearly visible. The sales process also matters: last year, 42% of properties offered without a deadline for submitting offers remained unsold, compared with only 18% of properties with a fixed deadline.”
Properties dominated by nutrient-poor sites and peatlands are more likely to remain unsold and tend to have longer selling times than properties with more fertile sites and mineral soils. The impact of stand development class distribution on selling times is less clear, but the inclusion of buildings in a property sale clearly reduces its marketability.
Mika Venho, founder and CEO of Suomen Sijoitusmetsät, highlights the long-term trend: “Although good properties continue to find buyers quickly and reliably, the share of unsold listings has nearly tripled since 2017, reaching 21%. At the same time as the number of properties entering the market increased, the share of institutional buyers declined. To succeed, a broker must understand the difference between a poor-quality and a high-quality property and how this affects pricing.”
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