Renting in Kemijärvi: the city’s 560 rental flats, the online application, the 2026 rent increases, the Vuostimo row houses near Pyhä and Kela housing
Finland’s northernmost town, where the city owns 560 rental flats and some of them stand empty. Where to apply and what to know before you move.
Population from Statistics Finland, flat numbers and how to apply from the City of Kemijärvi’s pages, rent increases and occupancy targets from the city’s 2026 budget. Checked 23 September 2026.
The city companies first, then the portals.
The city’s 560 flats are in the centre, Särkikangas, Sipovaara, Isokylä, Halosenranta and Vuostimo. Apply online or on a paper form from Sortteeri (Vapaudenkatu 8). An application is valid for four months and can be renewed.
City-owned row houses from 1987 in Vuostimo, about 35 kilometres north of the centre. The Pyhätunturi ski resort is 14 kilometres away, which makes these the city’s rental flats closest to Pyhä.
Private and agency listings under the municipality Kemijärvi. The city’s housing pages list no private landlords, so their flats are found on the portals.
The city companies do not publish their rents.
Average rent €/m²/month, free-market rental flats, 2026Q2
Statistics Finland, rents 2026Q2, table 15fa. No separate figure is published for Kemijärvi, and the regional figure includes the dearer Rovaniemi.
Kemijärvi falls under Kela’s “other municipalities”.
Maximum housing costs 2026, €/month, Kela group “other municipalities”
Kela, general housing allowance 2026. The allowance is at most 70 % of accepted housing costs; an allowance below €15 is not paid.
How do I apply for a city-owned flat in Kemijärvi?
With the online application on the city’s site, or on a paper form from Sortteeri (Vapaudenkatu 8). The application is valid for four months and can be renewed for another four. Credit records are checked, and the application is not processed until its attachments have arrived. Tenant selection meetings are usually held every other Wednesday (kemijarvi.fi).
Are there free rental flats in Kemijärvi?
Most likely. The city budget treats having 80–85 percent of the companies’ flats let as a realistic target (budget 2026). Ask the housing secretary which flats are free.
What does a rental flat cost in Kemijärvi?
No current average is published. The latest figure for the town-centre postal area is from early 2022: studios €12.15 per m² and two-room flats €9.10 per m². The Lapland average was €13.10 per m² in April–June 2026, and it includes the dearer Rovaniemi (Statistics Finland).
The Lapland Education Centre REDU has a student dormitory in Kemijärvi. Housing is free for students still in compulsory education, and spare places are let to other students at the listed price (redu.fi).
The partner search shows free rooms and apartments in Kemijärvi and at Pyhä at today’s prices.
Kemijärvi had 6,919 residents at the end of 2025, 35 fewer than a year earlier (Statistics Finland). The city calls itself Finland’s northernmost town and says the services in the centre are within walking distance (kemijarvi.fi).
The city’s two property companies, Kemijärven Vuokratalot and Kemijärven Töveli, own 560 rental flats (kemijarvi.fi). The city budget treats having 80–85 percent of those flats let as a realistic target, so empty flats do exist.
Rents are rising: Kemijärven Vuokratalot raised its rents by 4.5 percent on 1 February 2026 and Töveli by 5 percent on 1 July 2026. The same increases are written into the plan for 2027 and 2028 (budget 2026).
Kemijärvi’s own figure dates from 2022. In the town-centre postal area 98100, free-market studios averaged €12.15 per m² and two-room flats €9.10 per m² in January–March 2022. Every quarter since has been suppressed: Statistics Finland hides a postal area’s figure when there are fewer than 20 observations or the share of housing companies is large (table 13eb).
The city companies’ rents are not online. Ask the housing secretary for the rent before you accept an offer, and remember that rents went up in 2026: 4.5 percent at Vuokratalot and 5 percent at Töveli.
According to the city, its major employers besides the city itself are Keitele Group, Festivo Porkka Group and Kela’s contact centre, along with retail, service and tourism businesses (budget 2026).
The unemployed made up 15.6 percent of the labour force in 2024, against 11.7 percent in Finland as a whole (Statistics Finland).
Suomutunturi is 46 km from the centre and Pyhätunturi 50 km (OpenStreetMap). Suomu lies within Kemijärvi; Pyhä belongs to the neighbouring municipality of Pelkosenniemi.