Catella Residential enters Finland

Catella Residential Investment Management has entered Finland after acquiring 300 apartments across the country for nearly €80 million ($90 million) from Finnish insurance group Fennia.

Bought for the manager’s pan-European residential fund, Catella Wohnen Europa, the portfolio of apartments comprises six residential properties over a lettable area of 18,500 square meters. The assets are virtually fully let and were built in 2011. They are mainly located in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, with one in Tampere and one in Jyväskylä. The acquisition brings assets under the Catella Wohnen Europa fund close to €800 million ($897 million) in value.

Catella has said that Finland is an attractive residential market as demand for apartments is increasing due to favorable demographics in the country’s key cities. Foreign institutional investors’ share of the total volume of housing portfolios reached 58 percent in 2018.

Jussi Rouhento, managing director at Cate