Analytics, Latvia, Real Estate, Society

“The share of residents projecting a rise in property prices in the nearest future has been steadily growing for several months in a row. The forecasts predicting housing price growth have been influenced by rising income and more accessible loans,” the bank’s representative said.

At the same time, the percentage of respondents expecting housing prices to drop has contracted to just 6%, whereas 21.8% of respondents do not expect housing prices to change in the next 12 months. Another 17.7% of respondents in the survey did not have an opinion about possible housing price dynamics, but their percentage has declined from previous quarters.

Kontusa noted that the value of the SEB Housing Price Indicator (the difference between those forecasting rising prices and those forecasting falling prices in the coming 12 months) has climbed to 48.6 points, the highest figure since 2009.

The survey was conducted in March 2018 in collaboration with SKDS market and public opinion research center. The survey included 1,003 respondents - permanent residents of Latvia, aged 18 to 74.