Kallio

Once a tightly packed working-class district, Kallio has undergone a well-documented bohemian takeover. Old pawn shops and dive bars now sit beside specialty coffee roasters, design boutiques, organic grocers and co-working spaces, while 1920s wooden and brick tenements have been renovated into compact modern apartments. The result is one of Helsinki's most energetic and affordable-by-central-standards neighborhoods, with a dense, walkable streetscape east of the city centre. The atmosphere is youthful, tolerant and after-dark lively. A large student and young-professional population fuels a restaurant, bar and live-music scene that runs late, and demand for housing keeps rental vacancy near zero year-round. Kallio rewards renters and small-unit investors more than families seeking space, but its gentrification trajectory has made it one of the strongest recent appreciation stories in the city.

Kallio in Helsinki, Uusimaa Region, Finland