The apartment price gap between the major cities in the country continued to increase
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 0.6% in November 2019. The annual apartment price growth in the major cities of Lithuania was 6.3% (the annual apartment price growth in October 2019 was 6.2%).
In November 2019 apartment prices in the capital grew 0.6% with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,597 (+9 EUR/sqm). Apartment prices in Kaunas and Klaipėda in November grew by 0.5% respectively with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,143 (+6 EUR/sqm) and EUR 1,132 (+6 Eur/sqm). Meanwhile in Šiauliai was recorded 1.2% price increase with average price per square meter reaching EUR 729 (+8 EUR/sqm), while apartment price in Panevėžys grew by 0.8% respectively with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 711 (+6 EUR/sqm).
In the past 12 months, the prices of apartments grew in all major cities: 5.9% in Vilnius, 6.7% in Kaunas, 5.2% in Klaipėda, 9.8% in Šiauliai and 10.5% in Panevėžys.
“The past several years recorded accelerated growth in apartment sales prices in Kaunas, Šiauliai and Panevėžys, in addition to the shrinking difference in apartment prices between those cities and the capital. The one exception was Klaipėda, in which the apartment price increase was most moderate and the gap as compared to Vilnius remained in essence unchanged. Still, the fairly rapid growth in prices in Vilnius again increased the gap between the capital and the other major cities. While in 2018 the difference between the average apartment prices between the capital and the other major cities was 428–875 Eur/m², this year the figure was 455–886 Eur/m². One of the reasons potentially affecting the development was that wages in Vilnius grew more than in the country’s other large cities,” Raimondas Reginis, Research Manager for the Baltics at Ober-Haus, said.
Full article (PDF): Lithuanian Apartment Price Index, November 2019
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