Latvia, Real Estate

In the full 2017, the prices of Soviet-era apartments in Riga are expected to rise 6.5%, Zarins said.

“This price increase has been fueled by a shortage of high-quality apartments in the Riga housing market and the fact that more than a third of Latvia’s economically active population consider buying apartments in new projects which are also in short supply,” the Balsts CEO said.

In July 2017, the number of apartment transactions dropped by 11% from June, which Zarins put down to the summer holiday season.

In July apartments in Soviet-era standard design houses in Riga were selling for EUR 752 per square meter on average, with average apartment prices rising by 0.1-2.3% virtually in all residential neighborhoods.

Demand in the rental apartment market still exceeded supply in July, Zarins said. The average monthly rent in new residential projects and renovated houses in downtown Riga was close to EUR 10 per square meter and EUR 5.5 per square meter in non-renovated apartments.

In the segment of new residential projects, local buyer activity remained unchanged from previous months. Apartment prices in new residential projects averaged from EUR 1,000 to EUR 1,750 per square meter and from EUR 1,500 to EUR 3,900 per square meter in the city center. In the high-end segment, the average prices were in the range between EUR 2,600 to EUR 4,000 per square meter.