Second homes are an important part of Finnish leisure, mobility and rural policy. There are 499,000 second homes in Finland according to the official statistics, but this number is probably underestimated and over half of the Finns actually use the leisure opportunities offered by second homes. This report characterises the phenomenon of second homes in Finland from two perspectives: of their users and of local policy makers. It presents the results of two surveys conducted in years 2012 and 2014 among representative sample of Finnish population, and officials from municipal offices responsible for development and planning issues. The population survey investigated who has access to second homes in Finland, the ways of acquisition of these properties, their location and technical standard, time patterns of use, economic and social relations of second home users with host areas, and their perception of quality of permanent and second home environments and their transformations. This survey enabled to explore practices and opinions not only of the owners of second homes, but also those who use second homes owned by their family or friends. It also did not limit to one second home, as a significant proportion of Finnish population has access to more than one such property. The second survey was sent out to representatives of Finnish municipal governments and aimed to explore their perception of the impacts of second homes on local environment and communities, the role of second homes in local development planning, and policies employed by municipal authorities to manage second homes development. The results show that the municipal authorities in Finland usually perceive second homes as a positive contributor to the local economies, particularly in peripheral locations, but do not treat them as a primary development strategy