Buy your first home with the help of the ASP scheme

A two-storey terraced house in Porvoo has happy new owners. Viivi, 27, has moved in with her spouse and her dog named Sulo. This small family was able to realise their dream of buying a home with the help of regular saving. 

Viivi started saving into a home saver’s bonus interest account, commonly known as an ASP account, as soon as she turned 18 and moved out of her parents’ house. Her bank suggested that she save into an ASP account, which Viivi thought was a good idea: “I would eventually want to buy my own home sooner or later.”

You can live the life you want in your own home 

Viivi enjoys slow mornings with coffee and breakfast in the peace and quiet of her very own home. She works from home from time to time, so it’s important that her home is both cosy and functional. One of the two bedrooms is a guest bedroom she uses as her home office. Viivi’s favourite spot is the terrace in the backyard where she can unwind after a busy day at work when the weather is nice.

To Viivi, her home is a place where she feels comfortable and relaxed in – an escape from the worries of everyday life. “You can live the life you want in your own home,” Viivi says.

So how did Viivi manage to make her dream of buying a home a reality?

Taking small steps towards home ownership while studying

When Viivi graduated from upper secondary school, she moved from Porvoo to Helsinki and took a few gap years during which she worked full time and put a part of her salary aside every payday.

Later, Viivi got into a university of applied sciences. She had to make do with a lower income, as she was only able to work part time during her studies. Despite this, Viivi stuck to her savings plan and transferred a part of her salary every month to her ASP account.

“I had been saving into an ASP account for a few years before I began my studies. As a student, I was able to save a little bit less and had to adjust my savings amount. But I stuck with saving all throughout my studies. When I got my salary, I transferred as much as I could afford to my ASP account. If money was tight, I reduced my saving to the bare minimum,” Viivi explains.

Saving pays off – finding the perfect home in Porvoo

Once Viivi had been saving regularly for about 5 years into her ASP account, she ended up buying a lovely terraced house together with her spouse. The couple pooled their savings to achieve their savings goal.

First they looked at homes in the Greater Helsinki area and to the west of Helsinki but they finally found the perfect property in Viivi’s old home town of Porvoo.

At the end, Porvoo offered the couple more value for their money. The town is an easy commute away from the Greater Helsinki area where Viivi’s spouse works. Viivi has family in Porvoo, which also factored into their final decision.

Building a nest egg through regular saving while enjoying life

To Viivi, saving was a marathon and not a sprint, and she let her savings grow over time. “Saving into an ASP account wasn’t difficult at all after I had decided to put aside at least 50 euros of my salary every payday,” Viivi says. Once you have transferred money into your savings on payday, you can spend the rest of your salary on other things and enjoying life. Viivi doesn’t feel like she had to make any sacrifices because of ASP saving. “It was an expense that had a purpose. I never felt like I wished I had that money to spend.” 

According to Viivi, the great thing about an ASP account is that you don’t really ever feel like touching the money because it’s been specifically set aside for buying a home. If you save in a regular account instead, you might be tempted to withdraw some of your savings thinking you will make up for it by transferring the same amount back to the account later.

Viivi thinks that saving regularly and having patience are key in ASP saving if you want to realise your dream of buying your first home. She recommends ASP saving for everyone even if you eventually end up taking out a regular home loan instead of an ASP loan.

“ASP saving gives you a routine and helps you get into a good habit. The main thing is to start, so your savings will have a chance to grow,” Viivi encourages.

If you’re not planning to buy a home any time soon, there are also other ways to start saving regularly in the meantime. You can transfer these savings to an ASP account later when buying a home becomes more relevant to you.

What is an ASP account?

• A home saver’s bonus interest account, commonly known as an ASP account, is intended for people who are planning to buy their first home. You can open an ASP account when you are 15 to 44 years old.
  
• You can earn up to 5% in tax-free interest on your savings in your ASP account when you deposit the majority of your savings in the year you open the account and the next five calendar years. Once you take out an ASP loan or a regular home loan to buy a home, you will be paid bonus interest on your savings.