Authors Jonne Järvi is a partner and Roosa Rantala is an associate at Roschier Helsinki.

Finland opens the door to pension-insurer leverage in real estate: a new lending market for banks

As of 1 July 2026 a reform to Finland’s earnings-related pension system allows Finnish pension insurance companies to finance real estate investments using debt to a significantly greater extent than previously permitted under Finnish law. The reform is part of a broader push to improve the investment environment of the Finnish public pension system and replaces a narrow temporary debt exception with a broader and permanent framework potentially creating billions in new borrowing demand in the Finnish real estate market.

Pension insurers are among Finland’s largest groups of institutional property investors yet historically they have operated under significantly more restrictive borrowing rules than other real estate investors. The reform allows them to introduce leverage across a broader range of real...