Will inflation do mortgage holders any good?
Wages in Finland grew by nine percent in June compared to the year before. With that in mind Helsingin Sanomat explores the notion that inflation helps chip away at debt when interest rates are lower than inflation. This happened in Finland in the 1970s, when wage increases outpaced the rise in consumer prices.
Bank economists told HS that at least for now, wage growth in Finland hasn't been rapid enough for borrowers to benefit from inflation. Instead, rising prices continue to burden households thanks to increased interest expenses and rising living costs.
But there is one group of people that has benefited the most from inflation: young adults with neither assets that can be eroded nor debt impacted by rising interest rates.
Danske Bank noted that young people now have a better chance of getting on the property ladder as housing prices have come down from the days of zero interest.
Yle News' All Points North podcast recently asked if Finland was seeing a buyer's or renter's market.
Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena via Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Neighbourly relations
Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat meanwhile talks to Barry Pavel, a former director on the National Security Council serving US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, about how Russia's war in Ukraine will end.
"No one talks about the fact that Russia could lose the war in Ukraine, with things continuing almost as they were in Russia. It's also quite possible," Pavel told IS.
The paper asked if Finland was a part of Russia's plan before Nato membership.
"It's clear now that Putin at least understands it wouldn't be sensible to attack Nato territory because then the whole alliance would retaliate against him," he explained.
Pavel meanwhile said he did not consider it likely that Russia would transition to a democracy after losing a war, since the country doesn't have democratic history. "Could there be a new, more aggressive Putin? Yes."
Autumn arrives
Fall in Finland has been somewhat behind schedule this year. The last week of September was unseasonably warm in some parts of Finland, with temperatures exceeding 20 degrees Celsius.
"In October, we're gradually moving towards cooler autumn weather," Heikki Sinisalo, a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) told Maaseudun Tulevaisuus.
On Tuesday forecasters expect a storm to bring heavy rain and strong winds to Uusimaa, Kymenlaakso and South Karelia.
"It looks like we could get around 50 millimeters of rain," Sinisalo said.
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