Kojamo Oyj: How a Digital-First Landlord Is Rewiring Urban Renting in Finland

Why Kojamo Oyj Matters: Renting as a Product, Not Just a Roof

In most markets, residential renting still looks like a 1990s experience: paper contracts, opaque pricing, and slow, fragmented service. Kojamo Oyj is trying to turn that into a repeatable, software-like product. Rather than seeing itself as a slow-moving property owner, the Finland-based company positions its core offering as a scalable, tech-enabled rental platform designed for urban professionals who want flexibility, predictability, and digital-first service.

Kojamo Oyj operates mainly under the Lumo brand, one of Finland’s largest private residential rental platforms, with tens of thousands of apartments concentrated in key growth centres such as the Helsinki metropolitan area, Tampere, and Turku. The company’s pitch is simple: renting should feel more like using a subscription service than signing a one?off lease. That mindshift is what separates Kojamo Oyj from many legacy landlords and increasingly defines its product strategy, from fully digital onboarding to add-on services integrated into everyday urban living.

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Inside the Flagship: Kojamo Oyj

To understand Kojamo Oyj as a product, you have to look past the balance sheet and into how the company builds and operates its Lumo-branded housing platform. Kojamo is not selling an app or a gadget; the "product" is a bundled experience of apartment, digital services, and predictable living conditions optimised for dense, growing cities.

At the core is a portfolio of modern, mostly urban rental apartments that Kojamo either develops itself or acquires and upgrades. But what makes Kojamo Oyj stand out is the way it layers technology, customer experience, and flexible contract models on top of that hard asset base.

Key pillars of the Kojamo Oyj product model:

1. A digital-first rental journey
Kojamo’s Lumo platform is designed so that a customer can find, apply for, and sign a lease for an apartment entirely online. From virtual tours to automated credit checks and electronic signatures, the company aims to reduce the friction between decision and move-in. Prospective tenants can browse real-time availability, compare rent levels across neighbourhoods, and complete the entire onboarding process without visiting a physical office.

This digitalisation goes beyond the initial transaction. Residents can manage their contracts, submit maintenance requests, book shared spaces, and even access some buildings through digital keys, all from a central online environment. The result is a more standardised, scalable system that makes Kojamo Oyj look and feel a lot more like a consumer tech platform than a conventional real estate owner.

2. Flexible, subscription-style living
One of Kojamo’s core selling points is flexibility. Many Lumo apartments come without fixed-term lock-in, allowing tenants to move as their life situation changes. That flexibility is a powerful differentiator in a market where traditional leases can feel rigid, particularly for younger professionals, students, and mobile knowledge workers.

In some locations, Kojamo Oyj also experiments with bundled services that resemble a subscription model: rent plus utilities, connectivity, and selected extras rolled into one predictable monthly fee. That predictability is a subtle but important way to de-risk urban living for tenants whose incomes or employment situations may be more fluid than in the past.

3. Data-driven asset management
Behind the scenes, Kojamo Oyj leans heavily on data to manage its portfolio. By tracking demand, pricing, occupancy rates, and local demographic trends across thousands of apartments, the company can optimise renovation decisions, rent levels, and new development locations.

The product benefit is twofold: tenants get better-located, better-maintained apartments that match actual demand, and investors get a portfolio that can dynamically shift toward higher-yield, higher-demand neighborhoods. Over time, that data loop becomes a competitive moat; the more Kojamo operates, the better it can calibrate what and where to build or buy.

4. Urban-centric, service-rich communities
Kojamo Oyj focuses on growth centres, where public transport, services, and jobs are within easy reach. Many of its properties are located near rail or metro links, cutting commute times and reinforcing the appeal for tenants who prioritise connectivity over square meters.

On-site and nearby services play a key role in Kojamo’s product thinking. From shared lounges and co-working areas to bike storage, car-sharing access, and parcel lockers, the company is investing in the micro-infrastructure of daily life. The strategic idea: tenants will stay longer, churn less, and accept premium pricing if their homes plug into a well-designed urban ecosystem.

5. Sustainability by design
Kojamo Oyj embeds energy efficiency and sustainability into both new developments and renovations. That spans from modern insulation and smart building systems to heating and water-efficiency solutions. Beyond the environmental angle, this is a direct product feature: lower consumption can mean more stable housing costs and future-proofed building stock in the face of tightening regulation and energy price volatility.

For tenants, sustainability shows up as better indoor comfort and lower running costs; for investors, it shows up as reduced regulatory risk and improved long-term asset quality. Kojamo’s sustainability work is therefore not just marketing—it is structurally tied to the competitiveness of its rental product.

Market Rivals: Kojamo Aktie vs. The Competition

Kojamo Oyj operates in a relatively niche but increasingly competitive space: professionally managed, institutionally owned residential rental housing in and around Finland’s largest cities. On the capital markets, Kojamo Aktie competes with other listed Nordic and European residential landlords; on the product level, Kojamo Oyj competes for tenants against both corporate landlords and municipal/non-profit players.

Compared directly to SATO Corporation’s rental housing platform…
SATO, one of Finland’s other major residential investors, provides a natural benchmark. Like Kojamo, SATO owns tens of thousands of apartments, focusing on urban and growth areas. It offers online search, digital contracts, and a branded living concept similar at a glance to Kojamo’s Lumo model.

However, the emphasis is subtly different. While SATO has been upgrading its digital channels, Kojamo Oyj has more aggressively framed its platform as a holistic, flexible subscription-like product, with a heavier focus on brand-driven, lifestyle-oriented marketing under Lumo. Kojamo has also been particularly vocal about its data-driven asset management and its willingness to pivot its portfolio by disposing of non-core assets and recycling capital into higher-demand locations.

From a renter’s point of view, SATO may look comparable in quality and location, but Kojamo’s portfolio skews even more heavily toward the very core of Finland’s largest growth centres, which can translate into better access to services and transport. That concentration is strategically risky but powerful when urbanisation trends hold.

Compared directly to Citycon’s mixed-use retail-residential concepts…
Citycon is not a pure-play residential landlord; it focuses on urban, mixed-use, often retail-anchored centres across the Nordics and Baltics. But its integration of residential units into shopping centre developments pitches a competing vision of urban living: live on top of a mall, plug directly into retail and services, and treat the building as a vertical neighborhood.

Against that, Kojamo Oyj’s proposition is cleaner and more focused: it builds and operates residential-led communities, with supporting services layered around housing rather than retail first. Citycon’s mixed-use product is compelling for those who value immediate access to shops and entertainment, but it also brings exposure to retail market volatility. Kojamo’s concentration in residential-only or residential-dominant assets offers a simpler, more resilient proposition when retail cycles turn.

Compared directly to Vonovia SE’s large-scale residential platform…
Stepping outside Finland, Vonovia SE in Germany represents the scaled European residential platform model: millions of square meters under management, rigid industrial processes, and increasingly digital services. Compared directly to Vonovia’s platform, Kojamo Oyj is smaller in absolute size but more tightly focused on a single, high-income Nordic market.

Vonovia has sophisticated data systems, advanced cost controls, and scale-driven procurement advantages. Yet the trade-off is that tenant experience can feel standardised and less human. Kojamo has the opportunity to use its smaller scale and strong local presence to design a more tailored product, more responsive to local preferences and regulatory nuances. In practice, this shows up in Kojamo’s strong Lumo brand identity and the way it curates neighborhood-specific offerings instead of applying a one-size-fits-all European template.

Where Kojamo Oyj falls short
The competitive picture is not entirely rosy. Kojamo’s focus on Finland’s growth centres concentrates risk in a relatively small geographical and economic base; in contrast, Vonovia or pan-Nordic peers can diversify across multiple countries. In a downturn or in the face of shifting demographic patterns, Kojamo’s narrow footprint could become a liability.

Additionally, municipal and non-profit housing providers in Finland offer lower-cost alternatives, particularly in regulated segments. While they may lack Kojamo’s digital polish, they compete aggressively on price, constraining Kojamo’s ability to push rents without commensurate product upgrades.

The Competitive Edge: Why it Wins

Kojamo Oyj’s competitive edge emerges at the intersection of three themes: focus, digitalisation, and brand.

1. Hyper-focus on growth centres
While concentration brings risk, it also sharpens Kojamo’s product. By doubling down on Finland’s most attractive urban regions, Kojamo is building density where it matters most for long-term rental demand. This enables:

• More granular pricing and yield management, informed by local data.
• Operational efficiencies from managing many apartments within tight geographic clusters.
• Stronger brand presence: Lumo becomes synonymous with city living in specific neighbourhoods.

Competitors spreading their portfolios across smaller towns and regions may gain diversification, but they often lose that hyper-local scale benefit and brand clarity.

2. Rental housing as a platform, not a spreadsheet
Kojamo Oyj treats its rental stock like a product portfolio in a tech company. That manifests in:

• Continuous UX improvement of the Lumo digital platform, streamlining application, contracting, and ongoing resident interactions.
• Feature-like innovation: flexible leases, bundled services, digital keys, and community amenities rolled out progressively rather than as one-off projects.
• Feedback loops: tenant satisfaction and usage data feeding back into decisions about refurbishments, services, and even apartment layouts.

This mindset makes Kojamo faster and more adaptive than many property-heavy incumbents, who still treat software and UX as outsourced afterthoughts.

3. Strong consumer brand in a traditionally unbranded space
Rental housing in Europe is often anonymous; tenants rent from a building, not a brand. Kojamo’s Lumo concept flips that script. The company invests heavily in brand recognition, design language, and consistent service standards, turning "Lumo" into a shorthand for a particular type of modern, urban lifestyle.

That brand power has downstream effects: it aids customer acquisition, supports premium pricing in the most desirable locations, and helps maintain occupancy in softer markets. Against non-branded private landlords or fragmented small-scale owners, Kojamo Oyj can simply look more trustworthy and predictable from a tenant’s perspective.

4. Sustainability aligned with regulation and demand
Energy-efficiency standards, EU-level climate policy, and tenant expectations are all tightening. Kojamo’s ongoing investment in sustainable construction and retrofits does more than generate an ESG slide; it builds a long-term moat. Older, poorly insulated stock owned by smaller landlords will face mounting regulatory and cost pressure, while Kojamo’s portfolio is steadily upgraded.

That positioning matters not only to regulators and investors, but also to tenants who increasingly weigh environmental impact and running costs when choosing a home. Over time, this should enhance Kojamo’s ability to keep buildings occupied and maintain pricing power relative to aging, less efficient competition.

5. Scalability without losing local nuance
Unlike some mega landlords whose operational templates feel rigid, Kojamo has the chance to scale its platform model while preserving local flavor. The company’s regional focus allows properties and services to be tailored by city and even by micro-location, while the shared digital backbone keeps processes efficient.

In other words, Kojamo Oyj can try to have it both ways: the cost advantages and professionalism of a large landlord with the flexibility and neighbourhood sensitivity of a smaller operator. If it continues to execute on that duality, it will be difficult for more standardised, multi-country giants to replicate.

Impact on Valuation and Stock

Kojamo Oyj’s strategy is not just a design philosophy—it is the central narrative driving Kojamo Aktie (ISIN FI4000292438) on public markets. As of the latest data from major financial platforms such as Nasdaq Nordic and Yahoo Finance, Kojamo’s share price reflects a company that has had to navigate higher interest rates, inflationary building costs, and increased scrutiny of housing affordability in Finland. At the same time, its core product thesis—digitally enabled, professionally managed rental housing in the strongest urban markets—remains intact and strategically coherent.

Recent stock performance has been shaped by a few key forces:

• Macro pressure on real estate valuations: Rising interest rates have compressed valuations for many listed real estate companies across Europe, and Kojamo is no exception. Higher yields required by investors translate into lower acceptable asset values, putting pressure on net asset value metrics that underpin Kojamo Aktie.

• Resilient operational fundamentals: Despite valuation headwinds, Kojamo Oyj’s occupancy levels in core regions remain relatively strong, supported by ongoing urbanisation trends and stable demand for professionally managed rental housing. The company’s focus on growth centres allows it to sustain rent levels better than landlords with a larger share of peripheral or structurally weaker locations.

• Capital recycling and portfolio optimisation: Kojamo has been actively selling non-core assets and recycling capital into more attractive developments and acquisitions. This sharpened capital allocation is designed to reinforce the product proposition—more modern, central, and sustainable housing stock—which in turn should support medium-term rental growth and reduce maintenance risk.

From an investor’s point of view, the success of the Kojamo Oyj product strategy has direct implications for Kojamo Aktie. If Kojamo can maintain high occupancy, protect or grow rents in core locations, and keep capex efficient via data-driven asset management, then cash flows should remain robust even in a tougher rate environment. That, in turn, underpins dividend capacity and long-term valuation.

Where risk enters the story is in regulation and affordability politics. As a prominent private landlord in major Finnish cities, Kojamo faces periodic public debate around rent levels and the role of institutional investors in housing markets. Any significant regulatory tightening could constrain its ability to fully monetise its product innovations. Investors in Kojamo Aktie therefore need to watch not only macroeconomic variables but also housing policy trends.

Still, in a European landscape where many landlords are scrambling to retrofit digital processes and ESG compliance onto legacy portfolios, Kojamo Oyj starts from a comparatively strong product and brand foundation. Its ability to articulate a clear, scalable rental housing product aimed at urban professionals is not just good for tenants—it is a central reason why Kojamo Aktie remains one of the more closely watched residential plays in the Nordic market.