Compared to last year and fall 2019, house prices increased by almost 10 percent.

Newly built homes rose in price 5 percent. Of these, one- and two-bedroom homes went up 6.4 percent and apartments in multi-apartment homes by 4.4 percent. Previously built homes became more expensive by 3.4 percent. Of these, apartments in apartment buildings rose in price by 4.5%, while prices for one- and two-bedroom houses did not change.

An even larger price difference can be seen when comparing last year with 2019. Lithuania statistics estimate that in 2020. in the fourth quarter compared to 2019. in the fourth quarter, house prices rose 9.4 per hundred. Newly built homes rose in price 8.8 percent. Of these, one-room houses and two apartments – 14.4%, apartments in multi-apartment houses – 6.7%. Previous-build home prices rose 9.7 percent. Of these, apartments in multi-apartment homes went up 10.6 percent, and one-bedroom, two-apartment homes by 7.1 percent.

House prices keep rising. The value of the Ober-Haus Lithuanian Apartment Price Index (OHBI), which records changes in apartment prices in the five largest cities in Lithuania (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys), increased in February 2021 by 0.9%. (In January 2021, there was an increase of 1.4 percent.)

“The result of February this year continues the accelerated growth rate of apartment sales prices in Lithuanian cities since the end of 2020. In the last three months alone, apartment sales prices in the five largest cities of Lithuania have increased by 3.3% on average. At the same time, it is the fastest three-month price increase since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007-2008. It should be noted that the growth of apartment prices is recorded in all cities and in different apartment segments (new and old construction).

The current pandemic, which has significantly limited the population’s ability to consume and spend money on various entertainment (meals, events, trips, etc.), seems to have led part of the population to make additional investments in the housing sector . We can observe how Lithuanian residents actively invest in the improvement of existing houses, buy their first and non-first houses, replace their existing houses with newer or more spacious ones, etc. The overall high level of market activity, rising apartment prices and the volume of new loans, as well as the growth of the urban population, or at least not in rapid decline, indicate that the population does not overcome the threats of a long-term pandemic.

Therefore, in the current situation, new home developers have a very important role to play. By securing a sufficient number of new homes, developers can exploit the market potential and at the same time help control price growth, ”said Raimondas Reginis, Ober-Haus market research manager for the Baltic countries.