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Arnoldas Antanavičius, a real estate expert and director of Realdata, said that the Lithuanian living space is one of the smallest in Europe.
“The situation is similar throughout Eastern Europe. Here people are used to living in small houses. By the way, real estate developers have not tried to increase housing in the last decade, even the opposite: the area of apartments has been decreasing every year.
In western countries, the situation is different, where people live in higher quality housing. In Lithuania, most people live in apartments, and in Western countries and Scandinavia in houses or cabins, ”said the real estate expert.
But according to him, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing the population to reconsider their priorities.
As a result, the demand for private homes has increased, but people are looking for more spacious and comfortable homes on the road. Everything is based not only on wishes, but also on possibilities. It is cheaper for neighbors to buy a house on the road than a larger apartment in the center of the city ”, explained the real estate expert.
Žygimantas Mauricas, chief economist at Luminor Bank, suggested recalling the Soviet era when talking about housing in Lithuania.
“During that time, people were used to living in small apartments of about 50 square meters, so some of them still live today. At that time, other EU countries don’t even call those apartments. They consider homes as studios, apartments in other countries start from 80 square meters.
There are countries where, for example, in Ireland, it is normal to have your own patio, so the people who live there do not even imagine a different life, “said the economist.
According to Ž. Maurico, the coronavirus pandemic has shown that people need more spacious homes where they can work and spend their free time. There has been an increased need for your own larger patio or balcony.
The apartment area has been declining every year.
Real estate developers offer residents the purchase of homes with an area ranging from 25 to 150 square meters.
According to Šarūnas Tarutis, Head of Investment and Analysis at Citus, analysis of market data shows that over the past two years, property developers typically offer 2-bedroom apartments with an area of 42-49 square meters in housing projects of new construction.
“Two-bedroom apartments account for almost half of supply and demand in the housing market. Data available to other analysts shows that for all of 2019-2020 One-bedroom apartments accounted for 16.8%, two apartments 48.2%, three apartments 28.6% and the largest 6.4% “, commented the specialist.
According to him, the trend before the quarantine was very clear: buyers were looking for fewer and fewer homes. Over the last decade, according to the Records Center data, the average area of apartments purchased (of any number of rooms) has decreased by 11.5 percent. – from 58.6 to 51.9 square meters.
“The area of apartments under construction started to decline after the financial crisis; it was easier to sell smaller apartments because they were cheaper. Demand for smaller apartments among investors also started to grow: they were more attractive to rent. The changes in society they also contribute to the reduction of the area: with the increase of lonely people, the need for large houses decreases. ”Š. Tarutis.
According to him, the need for space begins to grow naturally as family and financial opportunities increase, and then, when children are released into independent living, it decreases again.
“The changing lifestyle is changing the way we view housing and the demands placed on it. If housing was ever the greatest asset in life that people tried to buy throughout their lives, the situation has changed for full today. But until recently, the time has come when we can change homes as needed. As a result, there is still a myth among first-time buyers that a slightly higher “reserve” is needed.
However, this is not a rational solution, because we pay for each square meter, in addition, it is more expensive to maintain a larger apartment, and it is not clear when those “additional” squares will be needed, said the specialist.
According to him, the company’s smallest projects are the so-called “one and a half” apartments with one bedroom with a common living-kitchen area. Its surface ranges between 28 and 36 square meters. And the 4-room apartments are 90 to 102 square meters in size.
“The quarantine has slowed down the aforementioned trend of housing decline and may even reverse the opposite for some time. People have the need to install a workspace at home, to have a green corner to relax: a balcony, a terrace or patio ”, Š. Tarutis.
Hanner CEO Arvydas Avulis also noted that most people buy a 2-bedroom apartment with an area of about 45 square meters.
“Smaller one bedroom apartments are more popular in the city center. However, its popularity is also determined by price, because people cannot afford to buy larger apartments. Often times, residents who want to live downtown donate the area for a convenient location, “noted A. Avulis.
According to him, the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine have shown that most homes are not adapted for both work and life. However, according to him, so far there are no clear trends in demand for larger apartments.
“We haven’t seen a significant increase in demand for larger homes. People probably realize that the quarantine won’t last forever. After all, people don’t buy a home for one or two years, but for at least one. 10 years, ”said A. Avulis.
Dream of a bigger home, but can’t afford it
Justinas Šavelskis, sales manager for construction company Eika, also said that the size of the apartments has been decreasing over the last decade.
“The area of the apartments is 25 to 80 square meters. It is much more difficult to sell apartments that do not fall in this range because they seem too small or more difficult to pay financially for clients.
In terms of number of rooms, the 1-room apartment has an area of 25-30 square meters, the 1.5-room apartment – 30-35 square meters, 2 rooms – 35-55 square meters, 3 rooms – 55- 65 square meters and 4 rooms – 70-80 square meters ”, explained the sales manager.
According to him, the best seller is a 2-room apartment with an area of 40-45 square meters.
“The demand for this type of apartment is the highest in the last 11 years, so we tried to design most of them. Such apartments are bought by people who want to invest in real estate, as well as by singles, couples, parents of children buy this type of apartment or vice versa – children from their respectable parents, for whom their large 3 or 4 bedroom apartments are already too much big, ”said J. Shavelsky.
According to him, the smallest apartment sold by the company amounted to 24 square meters and the largest 150 square meters.
“We generally don’t design apartments larger than 80 square meters. They are too expensive for buyers, so it takes longer to sell. However, if the buyer wants larger apartments, we combine them with 2 or 3 apartments. So the largest apartments can exceed 150 square meters.
During a coronavirus pandemic, more and more people are thinking of more comfortable and spacious homes that have a larger living room, separate study, or closet. However, only the buyers’ wishes changed and the financial opportunities remained the same. Therefore, although you dream of larger apartments, the acquisition trends in terms of area have not changed.
It is true that more and more clients are looking for homes with more spacious balconies or terraces, so it would be especially difficult to sell an apartment without a balcony or terrace during this period ”, commented the specialist.
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