EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Lithuania, Real Estate

According to CEO of Hanner Arvydas Avulis, the Lithuanian market was quite active this January, however, it had no impact on housing prices. They are influenced by supply to demand ratio and supply in the market is ample – 2,000 flats are for sale; in addition, real estate companies have many plans for this year.

Hanner alone is planning to offer over 500 new apartments for sale this year. According to Avulis, purchasers have what to choose from, therefore there is no objective reason for increase in prices.

"Of course, everything may happen, sometimes psychological things affect. The more people will speak that after the introduction of the euro all prices are going to rise, the more likely are strange actions," said Avulis.

According to Saulius Vagonis, Manager of Valuation and Market Research Department at Ober-Haus, after the introduction of the euro in Lithuania, the economy should grow faster. If it happens, the level of prices will likely increase, however, the possible rate of increase is difficult to forecast. According to Vagonis, it is likely that prices in Vilnius may increase at least by 5%.