The Turku Student Village Foundation (TYS) has published its Annual and Sustainability Report for 2025. The report compiles the key results and development trends of the foundation’s operations, finances, and sustainability work over the past year.
The year 2025 was marked, as in previous years, by a challenging operating environment, where economic uncertainty, a downturn in construction, and the tightening financial situation of students also impacted student housing.
“Privately financed rental apartments are now more widely available on the rental market in Turku, and their rents have been more flexible, unlike those of state-subsidized housing, where rent determination is based on the cost-price principle. As costs have increased, rents in state-subsidized housing have generally had to be raised, and the gap between them and market rents has narrowed in many areas,” says TYS CEO Risto Siilos.
Despite the challenges, the foundation’s rent comparison showed that the rent level of its apartments was still successfully maintained at 15–20% below market rents, in line with its target.
“In the long term, operators providing student housing, such as TYS, face significant challenges related to the need for major renovations and new construction, as well as the availability of financing as interest subsidy loan authorizations for state-supported housing construction decrease,” Siilos continues.
Demand and occupancy rate of TYS apartments continue to grow
The year 2025 once again demonstrated strong demand for affordable, comfortable, and high-quality student housing in Turku. The occupancy rate rose to 98.1%, and more housing applications were submitted than in previous years.
“Our goal was to receive 6,000 applications during the year, which was clearly exceeded: in 2025, a total of 8,179 students or student families applied for housing. Nearly 200 more applications were received than in the previous year,” says TYS Director of Customer Relations and Communications Pirjo Lipponen-Vaitomaa.
Tenants were also satisfied with their housing. In the annual tenant satisfaction survey, the perceived condition and quality level of TYS apartments was rated 4.04 (on a scale of 1–5).
Improving waste sorting is the next step in climate work
Mitigating climate change is one of TYS’s sustainability goals. A large share of emissions from properties comes from energy consumption, property maintenance, and waste.
The carbon footprint of the foundation’s own operations in 2025 was approximately 29% lower than in the reference year 2020, but about 8% higher than in 2024. The increase was mainly due to rising emissions from waste transport and processing, which grew by 54% between 2024 and 2025. The total amount of waste increased by 35%, with biowaste rising by 25% and mixed waste by 67%.
“To address waste management challenges, a working group has been established to explore how sorting could be improved in the foundation’s housing locations. Various measures will be tested during the year, and tenants will also be involved in finding solutions to enhance sorting,” says Lipponen-Vaitomaa.
The TYS Annual and Sustainability Report 2025 has been prepared in accordance with GRI standards and provides a comprehensive overview of the Turku Student Village Foundation’s operations, impacts, and objectives. The report is available in Finnish HERE
