Prices going nuts

Finland is known to be quite an expensive country. Mostly people speak about alcohol in reference to this topic. But actually a beer at a bar can still be bought at quite a reasonable price even in the city center of Helsinki.

The product where prices explode is a whole different one - it's nuts. If you are a tourist or expat in Finland and see what is charged for nuts here you should hold onto something. Prices tend to be two to three times more expensive than in Central Europe. Just lately I saw a package of pine seeds (100g) for no less than 9 Euros.

I just wonder if there is any logical explanation for those prices (maybe some special taxes on nuts like on alcohol and candies?) or if there is just someone making a lot of money having a monopoly on importing nuts to Finland. If anyone has an answer to this burning question please write a comment.

My suggestion though: next time you travel abroad don't come back with a bottle of wine but rather with a full suitcase of delicious cashews, peanuts and macadamias.

Moving to Helsinki I

Ok, the last days you had to read a lot about the weather here. Sorry for that! But now something useful. I want to open a new service category for you. Over the next days I will provide a bit of information to people who are planning to move to Helsinki or are already living here and searching for a new place to stay. Knowing where to find the apartments is one thing. But I think it is also quite useful to have some basic information about the apartment market in this city. That’s why I listed down some things you should know. Today I'll start with :

 

the price level

First of all you have to arrange yourself with the fact that Helsinki is probably one of the most expensive cities in Europe or even the world. There are so many rankings for the most expensive cities in the world that all come to different conclusions but let me tell you that Helsinki is quite often among the top 10. For an apartment in the center with one bedroom you pay an average rent of around 900 € per month. In Berlin you could probably get three bedrooms for that price. But also the living expenses are a bit higher here. It is quite obvious when you go out since especially the prices for alcohol are quite high. But also at the supermarket you will see a difference (especially with foreign products like cheese from the Netherlands). You’ll find a pretty good overview over the general price level here.

Stay tuned for more!