The real estate market was still active in August, but not as hot as in spring. 2,084 apartment transactions were concluded in August, which is the same level as in June and July, including additional transactions.
The activity of the market is characterised by a very low number of offerings – the number of transactions concluded in August was more or less the same as two years ago, but from about 25% lower offering, which means still a very short sales period.
In the next months, the market should heat up even more, even though the average payment amount from the 2nd pension pillar rather suggests that the funds mainly go for renovation of real estate and loan repayments; however, the sale of real estate with lower-than-average market value should gain speed most of all.
The median price of apartment transactions was 1,549 €/m2, which means that already for the tenth consecutive month, the median price has crossed the threshold of 1,500 €/m2. In comparison to the same period last year, the median price increased by 15.6%, in the first eight months of the year the increase in the median price has been somewhat slower – 10.3%, whereas the number of transactions has increased by 28% in comparison to the first eight months of year 2020 and by 11.8% in comparison to the same period of year 2019.
Estonia
Across counties, the market also shows fast growth; Järva and Lääne counties are the only ones where the number of transactions has increased less than 10% in comparison to the first eight months of year 2020, whereas in Võrumaa, due to the influence of Tamula Homes last year, the number of transactions has dropped. In the larger counties, the figures are delightful: the number of transactions in Harju County increased by 28%, in Viru County by 27.5%, in Pärnu County by 35.7% and in Tartu County by 36.4%.
Apartment market in Tallinn
In Tallinn, 717 sales-purchase transactions of apartment ownerships were concluded in August. In comparison to the year before, 88 transactions more were concluded. In the context of this year the number of transactions was the lowest, although the results of even five months have remained under 800 transactions this year.
Thus, it was not an unexpected or an unexpectedly low result but it had its objective reasons. 564 transactions were concluded in the secondary market and 153 transactions with new developments – thus, with a drop in the volume of new developments, the secondary market has picked up the initiative, growing nearly 15% in the first eight months in comparison to the same period in 2019.
In the first eight months of the year, 1,498 transactions have been concluded with new developments, 1,640 transactions were concluded in 2020 and 1,740 transactions in 2019. Thus, the share of new developments in the total number of transactions has dropped by 9 percent points in comparison to the same period last year.
Regardless of the increased volume of the secondary market and the 30 to 35% lower price level, the median price has increased by 7.2% during the first seven months of this year (2,006→2,150 €/m2), thus the growth is even higher in certain segments. The median price of transactions in August was 2,157 €/m2, remaining at a very high level like the month before.
Apartment market in Tartu
In Tartu, 234 sales-purchase transactions of apartment ownerships were concluded in August, in comparison to one year before it was 37 transactions more, and it was the highest number of transactions in the context of this year. 80 transactions were concluded with new developments and 154 transactions in the secondary market. During this year, in comparison to the same period last year, 53% more transactions have been concluded (1132→1730), in the high number of transactions the share of new developments was virtually as high as last year (30.5%→30.6%). The quick increase in the volume of new developments and the low number of offers has sent the prices of transactions racing: based on the transactions of the first eight months of year 2020, the median price of transactions was 1,568 €/m2, this year it was 12.4% higher, i.e. 1,763 €/m2.
Apartment market in Pärnu
In Pärnu, 94 sales-purchase transactions of apartment ownerships were concluded in August, in comparison to the year before, 36 transactions more were concluded. In comparison to July, the number of transactions increased by 13. 82 transactions were concluded in the secondary market and 12 transactions in the market of new developments, thus the number of transactions has mainly increased thanks to the secondary market, just like in Tallinn. 12.5% of transactions have been concluded with new developments this year, whereas last year the share was 23.6% and also the absolute figure was larger by 24; 300 transactions more have been concluded in the secondary market in the same period.
Regardless of the increased volume of transactions in the secondary market, the median price of transactions has increased by nearly 7% this year (1,253→1,336 €/m2). The median price in August was 1,434 €/m2 and in comparison to the year before, with a similar share of new developments, the median price increased by 26%. Thus, price increase in Pärnu has not stopped but is based on a significant change in the structure of transactions, thus the statistical price increase has been slow.
Apartment market in Narva
In Narva, 87 sales-purchase transactions of apartment ownerships were concluded in August. In comparison to one year before it was 23 transactions more, whereas in the context of this year it was the second-best result, inferior only to the record-breaking result of March. In the first eight months of the year, the number of transactions has increased in comparison to both year 2019 (+8.2%) and 2020 (7.4%). The median price of transactions, which had stayed at the same level for several years, has slightly increased – last year the figure was 394 €/m2, this year, however, it was 423 €/m2.
Houses and summer houses
If the total turnover of the apartment market has increased by 40.4% in comparison to last year, the total turnover of houses and summer houses has increased by 64.6%. The number of transactions with houses and summer houses in the same period has increased by 34.3%, the only counties where the number of transactions has dropped are Järva County and Võru County. In August, the average sales price of houses was 145,000 euros and the average sales price of summer houses was 60,000 euros, in comparison to the same period last year, in the first eight months of the year the average sales price of houses has increased by 19.5% (111,929→133,784 euros) the average sales price of summer houses has increased by 29.7% (41,736→54,126 euros).
