EU – Baltic States, Real Estate

Vilnius apartment prices rose by 0.5% to 1,278 EUR/sqm in May. During a year apartment prices in Vilnius increased by 6.8%, and since the last lowest price level (May 2010) have raised 10.7% (+123 EUR/sqm). There were over 4,475 apartment transactions in January-May 2014 in Vilnius – 29% more than in the same period of 2013.

In May 2014, apartment prices in Riga have increased by 0.5% to average price of 1,047 EUR/sqm. Over the past 12 months, the average apartment price has increased 5.3%. Increase in May was mainly influenced by rise in prices of old construction apartments in residential districts. The number of apartment transactions in May 2014 reached 751 and increased by 2.7% compared to May 2013.

The average apartment price in Tallinn decreased 5.0% to 1,379 EUR/sqm in May 2014, which means that annual increase dropped to 9.6%. Although prices plummeted last month rapidly (due to less transactions with new apartments), increase can be noticed in old soviet era apartments in residential districts like Lasnamae, where prices of smaller apartments have soared even up to 30% during the year. There were 3,108 apartment transactions during first five months of 2014 in Tallinn, which is 0.6% less than during the same period in 2013.

In May 2014 apartment prices have decreased the most – 0.6% in Gdansk and this brings the average apartment price to 1,314 EUR/sqm. The prices in other cities decreased from –0.1% in Warsaw to –0.5% in Poznan. The prices in Lodz were stable. Thanks to appreciation of Polish zloty, prices denominated in EUR increased moderately. During the last 12 months the price of apartments has dropped from 0.9% in Warsaw to 3.0% in Gdansk. From the highest apartment price level and until May 2014, apartment prices drop from 15.4% in Warsaw to 37.1% in Lodz.