Quarantine transactions: apartment in Vilnius for 685 thousand. and a house by the lake Margis for a million Business

The real estate services company Ober-Haus announced on the Facebook social network that, in April 2020, the most expensive apartment sold in Vilnius was the Sierakauskas 25 project (developer – Realinija), which assesses registered apartment transactions in apartment buildings according to the total sale price. In Naujamiestis, Sierakausko str. almost by 191 square meters. m area of ​​an apartment with parking spaces paid about 685 thousand. euros The second most expensive apartment was also sold in this house, for 176 square kilometers. m area of ​​an apartment with parking spaces paid about 667 thousand. euros

Real estate agency Baltic Sotheby’s International Realty also boasted luxury sales in April. The latter allegedly sold the most expensive country residence in the company’s history. Paulius Gebrauskas, co-owner of the Agency, 15 minutes revealed that the house cost just over a million euros.

“The luxurious residence on the shores of Lake Margaret blends harmoniously into a delightful 135-acre area with spectacular scenery and a private sandy beach, offering first-class comfort for relaxation and permanent living,” the agency wrote on Facebook. .

It felt warm for the first few weeks.

Antanas Kišūnas, Head of the Housing Department at Ober-Haus 15 minutes These sales of luxury properties, like sales of any other property, have fallen sharply since mid-March.

“This decrease in the number of transactions was determined by the quarantine and the wait for what will happen next. Yes, the biggest shock and stagnation was during the first three weeks of quarantine. After that, both buyers and developers and sellers they got used to and adapted to the current situation.

Interest in real estate is awakening (although not as fast as we would like), and transactions are taking place as we are currently making a couple of luxury property deals: they started during quarantine and will be completed soon, ”he said. .

It also has the support of P. Gebrauskas, according to which the sale stopped during the first three weeks and the buyers adapted to the situation.

“It just came to our attention then. But the calls started in the fourth week, we reoriented ourselves pretty quickly, we started making more videos up to 2 minutes long. Most interestingly, it was worth it and the queries started to increase. the fifth and sixth week, the movement began, new projects, consultations, inspections, ”he said.

Interested on the coast

According to P. Gebrauskas, there has recently been more interest than usual in the coastal market. There was no such desire to acquire property in this region before.

“He buys because he won’t be able to go out in the summer, and he buys a property that can use it this summer.” This trend is really brilliant, we were not as interested in the coast as before this year. You are interested not only in apartments, but also in plots, houses and farms. The flow is very active, “he assured.

Furthermore, according to P. Gebrauskas, the luxury property is currently being purchased without the help of banks, which is considered a diversification of funds.

“It is interesting that people do not necessarily want to buy cheap, negotiate a lot, but they want a quality building and think it is a safe investment,” he said.

Price changes are not expected.

According to A. Kišūnas, a couple of months of quarantine is too short a time for us to draw any conclusions, therefore the 2008 crisis should not be compared to the current situation. Admittedly, it points out that buyers who choose a property from the luxury and very luxurious property segment generally do not face the same problems as buyers of middle and low-priced real estate.

“Often they acquire real estate with their own funds, even if they lend to banks, the economic situation has less impact on their solvency and credit conditions. The criteria and requirements for the search of real estate of said buyers are different. When they find a suitable and pleasant home for them, they buy it. And sellers who manage and sell luxury assets generally don’t depend on financial or time stimuli. Therefore, there are no significant assumptions for the downward trend in prices in this segment, at least for the current period. ” 15 minutes he commented.

Also, before the 2008 crisis, the concept of luxury real estate was different, says A. Kišūnas.

“People who could afford a luxury home built it themselves or bought an old house in a prestigious area to make it luxurious on their own, because there was little supply of such properties on the primary market.

And now, in recent years, there has been a great offer and that offer is of a very high quality. Better, more expensive and more expensive real estate has emerged. Therefore, today luxury housing occupies an important position in the entire Lithuanian property market. Such a balance between the supply and demand of luxury assets reflects the general financial situation of the buyers. So far, it’s too early to ring the bell and talk about falling prices. ” 15 minutes I speak.

P. Gebrauskas says the same. According to the expert, in 2008 there was a price bubble, which he does not see now, and in some segments prices did not return to pre-crisis levels later.

“Prices have been adjusted a lot, especially with the parcels, you can see that those prices never went back to that time. For example, in Valakampiai, the parcels cost almost 75 thousand. Per acre, and now an average of 30 thousand. Per acre. The difference is big because there is no price bubble. As a result, no price adjustment is observed, and if the price drops, it is those who want to sell the property quickly. But as far as I can see, these are isolated cases. ” he concluded.