Saturday, 19 September 2026
A change in ownership is taking place across Finland’s logistics property market. Investment volumes have recovered sharply, but much of the capital behind that recovery is arriving from outside the country, with Swedish listed property companies emerging as particularly active buyers. The trend became especially visible during the second quarter of 2026. Approximately €199 million was invested in Finnish industrial and logistics property, around 29% more than during the corresponding period of 2025. This brought first-half investment to approximately €803 million, already exceeding the volume recorded during the whole of last year.
What makes the quarter unusual is not simply the increase in transactions. Foreign investors accounted for all of the industrial and logistics investment recorded during Q2, while Swedish property companies were responsible for much of the activity. The pattern extends beyond a handful of unrelated transactions. Swedish logistics specialists are beginning to assemble portfolios across Finland, suggesting that the country is increasingly being incorporated into wider Nordic property strategies.
Catena provides the clearest example. The Swedish listed logistics company entered Finland earlier in 2026 through a larger portfolio transaction that included seven Finnish properties. It subsequently expanded around Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, one of Finland’s most strategically important logistics locations. During May, Catena acquired the DHL logistics hub at Aviapolis for an underlying property value equivalent to approximately €67 million. The roughly 41,800 sqm facility serves as DHL’s principal Finnish logistics hub and places Catena directly inside the country’s largest concentration of logistics activity.
The company also acquired Cramo Finland’s facility close to Helsinki Airport in another substantial transaction. That property brought additional development potential alongside the existing income, giving Catena both an operating asset and the possibility of expanding the site over time. Following these acquisitions, Catena’s Finnish portfolio had grown to nine properties containing approximately 217,000 sqm of logistics space. That scale changes the interpretation of its Finnish activity. This is no longer simply a Swedish investor purchasing an attractive warehouse when one becomes available. Catena is establishing a meaningful operating position in Finland. The company has reinforced that commitment by appointing dedicated management for the Finnish business, indicating that it expects the portfolio to develop further.
Logistea is following a similar route. The Swedish listed property company expanded into Finnish logistics during Q2 with acquisitions including a property close to Turku Airport. The approximately €10.5 million asset is predominantly occupied by DHL and FedEx, giving the property exposure to international freight operators and an established air-logistics location. Logistea’s Finnish expansion continued immediately after the quarter ended, with further transactions announced in Tampere and Oulu.
This geographical spread is important. Rather than concentrating entirely on Greater Helsinki, the company is assembling exposure across several of Finland’s principal logistics and industrial centres. Helsinki, Turku, Tampere and Oulu each serve different parts of the national economy, creating the beginnings of a genuinely Finnish logistics portfolio rather than a collection of Helsinki properties.
The activity raises an obvious question about domestic capital. Why are Swedish property companies currently more visible as buyers of Finnish logistics assets than many Finnish institutions? Part of the answer lies in portfolio structure. Large Finnish institutions already have substantial exposure to their domestic property market. After several years of declining real estate valuations, higher financing costs and weak economic growth, increasing those allocations may not be particularly attractive.
Some Finnish property funds have instead been reducing exposure. During the second quarter, Finnish special real estate investment funds remained net sellers. They participated in disposals but recorded no acquisitions, illustrating how parts of domestic investment capital continue to prioritise liquidity and portfolio management rather than expansion.
Swedish specialist property companies approach Finland from a different starting point. For Catena or Logistea, acquiring a Finnish warehouse does not simply mean adding more real estate to a domestic portfolio. It allows the company to expand geographically while remaining within a property sector it already understands. The tenant requirements are familiar. The buildings are familiar. The logistics networks are increasingly Nordic rather than purely national. Finland therefore represents an adjacent operating market rather than an entirely new investment strategy.
Pricing also matters, although it would be misleading to conclude that Finnish logistics property is universally cheaper than comparable Swedish assets. The more relevant question is whether individual Finnish properties provide an attractive combination of acquisition price, rental income, tenant quality and long-term location value. Current transactions suggest some Swedish investors believe they do.
This is happening despite a Finnish logistics market that is not universally strengthening. Vacancy has increased from the exceptionally tight levels seen during the strongest years of the market. Occupiers have more alternatives in some locations, and older buildings face greater competition. Prime logistics pricing has also adjusted. Yields moved outward during Q2, indicating that investors continue to require higher returns than during the low-interest-rate period. Yet transactions are increasing.
That apparent contradiction becomes easier to understand when individual properties are examined rather than the market average. Catena is not simply buying anonymous warehouse space. Its Helsinki acquisitions provide established tenants, major transport infrastructure and development possibilities. Logistea’s Turku property is similarly differentiated by its airport position and international logistics occupiers. These characteristics can make an asset attractive even when overall vacancy is moving in the wrong direction.
Finland’s industrial property market is therefore becoming increasingly divided between buildings investors actively want and those they will only consider at substantially different prices. Modern logistics facilities with strong tenants, good transport access and secure income can continue attracting international buyers. Older industrial buildings with weaker locations, shorter leases or substantial capital requirements face a more difficult market. This division helps explain why investment activity can accelerate without producing a broad increase in property values.
Foreign buyers are not necessarily betting on a nationwide warehouse boom. They are choosing individual assets where the income and location justify the risk. The investment performance of Finnish industrial property also provides some support for this strategy. Industrial assets were Finland’s strongest-performing major institutional property sector during 2025, producing a total return of approximately 7.2%. They were also the only major sector to record positive capital growth during the year. That performance stands in contrast with the difficulties experienced by parts of the Finnish office and residential markets.
For investors searching for Finnish property exposure, logistics and industrial assets can therefore offer a different combination of income, tenant demand and valuation risk. Swedish investors are particularly well positioned to exploit that opportunity. Sweden already has a large and sophisticated logistics investment market. Swedish companies have developed specialist management platforms and relationships with major logistics operators, manufacturers and retailers. Finland allows those platforms to expand without moving far outside their existing geographical and operational expertise.
Importantly, the Swedish companies entering Finland are not doing so because their home market has stopped functioning. Sweden itself experienced strong logistics investment activity during Q2. Swedish companies therefore have opportunities at home while simultaneously choosing to deploy capital across the Baltic. That makes the Finnish expansion more significant. It suggests Finland is being evaluated alongside Swedish assets as part of a wider Nordic investment universe.
Helsinki-Vantaa remains the obvious starting point. Approximately two-thirds of Finnish industrial and logistics investment during Q2 was concentrated in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, reflecting the capital region’s dominant position in national distribution and consumption. The airport, Ring III and major motorway connections create a logistics cluster that is difficult to reproduce elsewhere in Finland.
But Swedish capital is already moving beyond Helsinki. Turku provides access to maritime connections and southwestern Finland’s industrial economy. Tampere sits at the centre of important domestic transport routes and serves one of the country’s largest urban regions. Oulu provides exposure to northern Finland’s technology, industrial and distribution economy. Future acquisitions could therefore create a network of properties spanning Finland’s principal economic corridors.
This could have consequences for Finnish owners. The arrival of additional Nordic buyers increases competition for good assets and expands the potential purchaser base for institutional-quality logistics property. At the same time, it may expose the difference between properties capable of attracting international capital and those dependent almost entirely on domestic buyers. For the best Finnish logistics assets, the relevant investment market may increasingly be Nordic rather than Finnish.
That would represent an important structural change. Cross-border ownership is already common across Nordic property markets, but the expansion of specialist Swedish logistics companies into Finland could accelerate consolidation within the sector. Larger platforms can acquire individual properties, portfolios and development sites while working with the same international tenants across several countries. The result could be a Finnish logistics market increasingly owned by companies whose investment decisions are made from a Nordic perspective.
It is still too early to conclude that domestic investors have permanently withdrawn. The 100% foreign share of Q2 investment was produced by a relatively limited number of transactions, and Finnish institutions could return quickly if market conditions improve. But the broader evidence extends beyond a single quarter. Domestic property funds remain cautious. Swedish listed companies are expanding. Catena has established a substantial Finnish platform, while Logistea is already moving into several cities.
That makes the capital shift difficult to dismiss as coincidence. The most important question for the remainder of 2026 is therefore not simply whether Finnish logistics investment continues recovering. It is who owns the assets when it does.
If Swedish companies continue acquiring warehouses, industrial properties and development sites across Helsinki, Turku, Tampere, Oulu and the country’s main transport corridors, Finland’s logistics market could become substantially more integrated into the Nordic investment landscape. The warehouses will still be in Finland. Increasingly, their owners may not be.
Source: CIJ.World Research & Analysis Team
