While apartment market in Vilnius is yet to find a clearer direction, the rest of Lithuania saw a decrease in apartment costs in the second quarter of 2012, the preliminary index of housing costs shows. The Centre of Registers also reports that the private house market has remained stable in the long run, despite significant short-term fluctuations, delfi.lt reports.
The average cost of the apartments of older construction transferred in Vilnius was Lt 3,741 per square metre, only 0.4% lower than during the first three months of this year, preliminary data show. At the same time the average price of new apartments sold in the capital leaped up to Lt 4286 / sq. m, a rise by 9.3% compared to the period of January-March.
In the rest of the country, excluding Vilnius, the average cost of older apartments transferred showed a decline of 4.9% and was Lt 1517 / sq. m, while the cost of new apartments was Lt 2377 / sq. m or 8% less than in the previous quarter, the non-final estimations show.
In the private house market of Vilnius, the cost of transactions of the houses of older construction was Lt 3963 / sq. m, and the houses of new construction cost Lt 2288 / sq. m, i. e. respectively 4.3% more and 16.1% less than the average values in the previous quarter.
The average costs of Lt 943 / sq. m for old private houses and Lt 1517 / sq. m for newly-built houses were predominant in the larger part of the country, excluding the capital, i. e. respectively 14.3% more and 3.3% more than at the beginning of the year.
Having assessed the situation over the past few years, when housing costs remained relatively stable despite a growing number of transactions, it is possible to assert that a sufficiently large housing supply has been established in the country when the growing market activity is not being responded to with proportionally rising costs.
Translated by Rimantas Kleiva
