Interest rates in Finland have been low for a long time, and mortgages are now available at affordable prices, according to the business daily Kauppalehti.
"This is quite an unusual situation. From a mortgage customer's point of view, the situation is very good when the reference rate is negative and the margins are favourable," said Sara Mella, Head of Personal Banking at Nordea.
According to the Bank of Finland, an "exceptionally high" number of mortgages were approved at the end of last year.
In December, loans were drawn down for a total amount of 1.9 billion euros, which was 460 million euros more than in December of the previous year and represents the largest number ever recorded for the month.
However, Timo Metsola, Director of the rental and real estate investment company Vuokraturva finds the situation worrying.
"When an exceptional interest rate continues for such a long time, it tends to lead to increases in appreciation rates on the stock and housing markets. It will be interesting to see how this situation will be resolved, or whether it will last for decades to come," said Metsola.
Mild adverse reactions to the coronavirus vaccines are normal
Fever, headaches, chills and achy limbs. These are all common side effects of any vaccine, and many of these side effects have also been reported with coronavirus inoculations.
This is a completely natural reaction as the body creates immunity to the virus, according to Mika Rämet, director of the Vaccine Research Centre at Tampere University, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
Hanna Nohynek, a vaccinologist and senior physician with the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), said reports for even small adverse reactions to a new vaccine are not surprising, especially in the early stages of a roll out.
The reactions reported have been mostly short-term side effects, which are common if a vaccine contains live viruses or bacteria.
The Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea says it has received 421 reports of adverse reactions to the two coronavirus vaccines currently in use in Finland. Of these, 137 have been reported as serious reactions. This is a high number, but there is a reason for it, according to Fimea Chief Physician, Maija Kaukonen.
"Coronavirus vaccines are a hot topic. It's common for the increased publicity of a vaccine to increase the number of adverse reaction reports," she said.
The definition of a serious reaction also varies depending on who defines it. According to Kaukonen, an adverse reaction report can be made either by the vaccinated person or by a healthcare professional.
It is up to the notifier to assess whether the reaction was serious. If the notifier determines a reaction to be serious, Fimea will not change the definition.
"I know someone has reported the reaction to a coronavirus vaccine as serious because they had to take one sick day from work. I understand that an individual may assess a reaction as serious if it has led them to be incapable to work," Kaukonen said.
The end is nigh for petrol cars
The era of petrol and diesel cars is coming to an end, and the market is shifting to electric ones, reports tabloid Iltalehti.
"There has been a clear shift, and it is no longer a case of individual countries or a few companies stopping manufacturing of internal combustion engines," said Matti Kahra, leading climate expert at the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).
According to statistics from December last year, hybrid and electric cars accounted for 32 percent of new car sales in Finland. In comparison, the equivalent figure was 87 percent in Norway, 72 in the Netherlands and 49 percent in Sweden.
In Finland, traffic causes one-fifth of total CO2 emissions, and road traffic accounts for about 94 percent of this. The goal is to halve traffic emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels and reduce emissions to zero by 2045.