Verified 26 July 2026.
How to get an exchange student apartment in Finland in 2026
For incoming exchange students in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere and Turku.
The 60-second answer
- Identify your city, institution and household.
- Use the provider's current official route.
- Apply when that route opens.
- Plan for the offer: deadline, deposit, dates and binding effect.
- Keep a private or temporary fallback in parallel.
Find your route
HOAS: Helsinki region
Exchange route for cooperating schools; quotas apply. An ordinary application may remain valid alongside it.
TOAS: Tampere
Furnished route: single applicants. Couples and families: regular route, mainly unfurnished. Submit only one route.
TYS: Turku
Dedicated exchange route with furnished options. TYS cannot house every arriving exchange student.
Route gaps: confirm accessibility, health, roommate/gender-fit, and any couple/family route with the provider when the form does not fit your situation.
Terms used in this guide
- Application route
- A provider's eligibility rules, page and form for a type of applicant.
- Regular route
- TOAS's mainly unfurnished alternative to its furnished single-room route.
- Shared apartment or room
- Verify whether the bedroom is private and check facilities and household rules.
- Deposit
- Provider-specific money and deadline stated in an offer.
- Binding
- An action creates obligations: deposit receipt at TOAS furnished route; accepted offer at TYS.
Put the cycle in your calendar
TYS: two separate signals
Applications and apartments are different units. Do not divide them into a success, shortage or vacancy rate. TYS source
Choose an apartment strategy
For HOAS, shared options and a wider location range can improve flexibility where suitable; most exchange options are shared and studios are limited. For the TOAS regular route, these qualitative waits are provider guidance only:
TOAS shared room
Normally immediate or within weeks outside July-September.
TOAS studio
About six months to more than a year; almost two years in some areas.
No family-wait fact is inferred. TOAS waiting-time guidance
Offer sequences and furnishing
- HOAS: confirmation is not an offer. Verify the individual offer's deposit and contract steps: official public deposit pages conflict (EUR 500 per person for all exchange types versus EUR 260 shared/EUR 500 others). Exchange offer · General deposit page
- TOAS furnished: offer, pay EUR 300 by deadline, TOAS receives deposit, then official non-cancellable tenancy. If studies are cancelled, contact TOAS immediately; rent may still be due and the deposit may be kept depending on notice timing.
- TYS: one offer, four-day response window, accepted offer is binding, then follow current key instructions. TYS offer terms · TYS arrival and keys
TOAS furnished rooms normally include bed, mattress, desk, chair and bookshelf, not bedding, towels or kitchenware. TOAS furnished-room details
Fallback ladder
- After applying: save confirmation; start a budgeted temporary/private search.
- While waiting: monitor spam daily and keep funds for the offer terms.
- Four to six weeks before arrival: widen suitable options and ask your institution about actual arrival support.
- Close to travel: do not travel assuming confirmation is housing.
Final checklist
- I confirmed my city, institution, household and route.
- I saved the opening date or lead-time instruction.
- I know whether applications can coexist.
- I have a fallback and can meet current offer terms.
- I will read dates, cancellation terms and binding effect before accepting.
Official sources
Method, limits and annual refresh
This guide uses current first-party HOAS, TOAS and TYS pages reviewed 26 July 2026. Provider models are not statistically equivalent; no Finland-wide live-supply, shortage, success rate or offer probability is calculated.
For 2027, recheck eligible institutions, route URLs, opening dates, offer timing, apartment details, deposit/cancellation terms, pressure data, official links and this verified date.