Analytics, Estonia, Real Estate

The total value of purchase-sale transactions was 6 billon kroons in the 4th quarter. Compared to the previous quarter the value of transactions decreased 22% and compared to the 4th quarter of 2007 – about a half.

Almost a half of the purchase-sale contracts were concluded for the transfer of dwellings, one third was with the unimproved registered immovables, 11% with residential buildings and 8% with non-residential buildings. The decline of transactions was first of all determined by the decline of transactions with dwellings and residential buildings in all counties. Compared to the 4th quarter of 2007, the number of transactions with dwellings decreased by 38% and the number of transactions with residential buildings by 36%.

In the 4th quarter, the average value of a purchase-sale transaction was 869,000 kroons. This was half a million kroons less than in the 4th quarter of 2006 when the average value of a transaction was the highest. In the 4th quarter of 2008 the average value of a transaction decreased by a fourth compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

In 2008, 34,400 purchase-sale transactions of real estate with the total value of 34 billion kroons were notarised. The number of transactions decreased by about a third during the year; and the total value of transactions decreased by 43%. The downward trend in the number of real estate purchase-sale transactions that had started two years earlier continued in the previous year. Compared to 2007, the number of transactions with dwellings and residential buildings decreased most – by a third. At the same time the average value of transactions with immovables decreased most (by about a half). In 2008 the average value of a purchase-sale transaction was 986,000 kroons, which is 18% less compared to the average value in 2007.

Trend of the notarised purchase-sale transactions of real estate, 1st quarter 2000 – 4th quarter 2008

Since the 1st quarter of 2008 the data of the Estonian Land Board serve as a basis for the production of official statistics on the purchase-sale transactions of real estate. In previous years Statistics Estonia collected the data from notaries.