Baltic and Polish apartment markets see prices fall

The latest Ober-Haus Baltic Apartment Price Index shows that apartment prices in Vilnius decreased by 0.2% in July 2012 and average price dropped to €1,194 per square meter. The growth in the number of apartment transactions that was recorded at the beginning of the year seems to have slowed with the number of apartment transactions increasing by only 0.7% in the first half of the year. However, the index also shows that a negative annual change in apartment prices increased to 1.2% in July of this year following a decrease of 1% in June. Apartment prices in Riga remained stable in July with the average price the same as June at €988 per square meter. But sales in the city seem to be more buoyant. According to the Land Register`s data, during the second quarter of 2012 market there 28% more apartment transactions than in the same period last year. Year on year the average apartment price has increased by 5.1% but from the peak of May 2007 until July this year apartment prices in Riga have decreased by 57.5%. Apartment prices in Tallinn have also been following, down 2.5% to €1,082 per square meter in July. Compared with a year ago the average price per square meter has increased 5.9%, mainly because more deals are done with new and more expensive properties. And during first seven months of 2012 there were 30% more apartment transactions than in the same period last year. The firm’s Polish index shows that apartment prices have fallen 0.6% in Poznan, taking the average apartment price down to €1,341 per square meter. In Warsaw prices fell 0.1% and Cracow they were down 0.5%. Gdansk was the exception with small 0.2% price rise. During the last 12 months Lódz has seen apartment prices fall 9.4% while they are down 1.9% in Warsaw year on year. From the peak of the market prices have now fallen 33.7% in Lódz and 11.8% in Warsaw.