Price for a standard apartment increased from EUR 6,100 to EUR 17,700

The Ober-Haus Lithuanian apartment price index (OHBI), which records changes in apartment prices in the five major Lithuanian cities (Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys), increased by 0.5% in May 2019. The annual apartment price growth in the major cities of Lithuania was 5.1% (the annual apartment price growth in April 2019 was 5.1%).

In May 2019 apartment prices in the capital grew 0.5% with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,542 (+8 EUR/sqm). Apartment prices in Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys in May grew by 0.6%, 0.4%, 0.7% and 1.0% respectively with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,102 (+7 EUR/sqm), EUR 1,089 (+4 Eur/sqm), 693 (+5 EUR/sqm) and EUR 676 (+7 EUR/sqm). In the past 12 months, the prices of apartments grew in all major cities: 4.5% in Vilnius, 5.4% in Kaunas, 3.3% in Klaipėda, 10.1% in Šiauliai and 13.5% in Panevėžys.

‘The market activity at least in the country’s major cities continues to be in recent decade highs. Official data shows that during the first five months of the year, compared to the same period in 2018, the number of purchased apartments has been increasing in all the major cities. If in the first five months the apartment sales figures in Klaipėda and Panevėžys were lower than those recorded in 2014, so in Vilnius, Kaunas and Šiauliai the overall result in the beginning of the year was the best in the past decade.

At the same time the apartment sales prices continue to reflect the growing or high overall market activity. Although the monthly price changes are not considerable, over a longer period the total nominal increase in prices of apartments is evident and more noticeable. If we calculate the change in sales prices since the lowest recent price level in major cities of the country, we will see that in 2019 buyers should be paying on average about EUR 17,700 more for a standard 50 sqm medium class apartment in Vilnius than for the same apartment in 2010 (nine years ago). Meanwhile in the remaining major cities of the country the lowest sales prices were recorded in 2013 and six years on buyers should be paying for the same apartment about EUR 7,700 more in Kaunas, EUR 7,200 more in Panevėžys, EUR 6,700 more in Šiauliai and about EUR 6,100 more in Klaipėda,” Raimondas Reginis, Ober-Haus Research Manager for the Baltics, said.

Full review: Lithuanian Apartment Price Index, May 2019 (PDF)