During the first quarter of 2017, 130 new apartments were sold in Kaunas – 9 percent more than last year in the same period and 6 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2016. Meanwhile, the result in Klaipėda was 90 apartments, 11 percent more than last year in the same period, but 19 percent less than in the previous quarter..
According to EIKA Development Director Martynas Žibūda, 160 new construction apartments were sold in Kaunas in the first quarter of 2014 alone. “During the first three months of 2017, the Kaunas market achieved one of the highest sales since the crisis and the highest in the last two years. And the Klaipėda market, after a more active period at the end of 2016, returned to the normal market average,” – M. Žibūda assesses the Kaunas and Klaipėda markets.
Real estate developers view Kaunas and Klaipėda differently
The growing activity of the primary market in Kaunas is attracting more and more attention from real estate developers – during the first three months of 2017, the Kaunas housing market was supplemented by about 200 new apartments in 5 projects. The supply in the Kaunas primary market is growing for the fourth quarter in a row and currently reaches 540 vacant new apartments, i.e. 5 percent more than at the same time last year. Meanwhile, real estate developers do not yet see prospects for larger projects in the Klaipėda primary housing market – during the quarter, the supply was supplemented by individual projects, offering even lower than the average price per sq. m. During the first quarter of 2017, about 60 apartments were offered to buyers in Klaipėda in new projects and the supply currently reaches 520 new apartments.
“If the supply in Kaunas has been growing for four consecutive quarters, in Klaipėda, on the contrary, it is decreasing. In the port city, there are still a number of new apartments left in the primary housing market since the crisis. Naturally, the remaining unattractive apartments are still reducing the price in the market, which is why real estate developers still have difficulty believing in the sustainability of the market and deciding on new projects,” says an EIKA representative. According to him, comparing the market saturation based on the demand and supply ratio, the number of vacant apartments in Vilnius would last almost 10 months, in Kaunas – 13 months, and in Klaipėda the indicator is the highest – 17 months. Therefore, Kaunas currently has much more potential to attract the attention of real estate developers than the port city. Kaunas residents planning to buy or exchange their housing for a new one will have much greater options.
Housing prices are skyrocketing in Kaunas, falling in Klaipėda
In the first quarter of 2017, the price per square meter of new housing in Kaunas reached 1,250 EUR, which is 15 percent more than at the same time last year. During the last half of the year, the Kaunas primary housing market was supplemented by several new projects closer to the city center. Real estate developers, seeing the changing expectations of buyers, are increasingly bold in offering more expensive, innovative housing closer to the city center in Kaunas, where the price can reach as much as 2,000 EUR per square meter and more, when previously the price per sq. m. rarely exceeded 1,500 EUR per square meter in any project.
The average price per square meter of new housing in Klaipėda currently reaches EUR 1,200 per square meter, i.e. 7 percent less than at the same time last year and 2 percent less than in the last quarter of 2016.
About the Eika group of companies
Founded in 1992, EIKA is one of the largest real estate development and construction groups in Lithuania, successfully developing residential, commercial, public and other purpose building projects, creating a new quality of life and work. The company has already built almost 4,000 apartments and 320 thousand square meters of buildings. EIKA has been awarded many times as the best real estate developer in Lithuania, and the company’s projects “Santariškių namai” and “Eika namai in Pilaitė” have also become the best in Lithuania. New quarters are currently being developed in Pilaitė, Žirmūnai, Bajorai, Jeruzalė, this year it is planned to start construction in the real estate complex on Gedimino pr.