Apartment sales prices rose twice as fast as inflation

2019-07-10

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 0.8% in June 2019. The annual apartment price growth in the major cities of Lithuania was 5.6% (the annual apartment price growth in May 2019 was 5.1%).

In June 2019 apartment prices in the capital grew 0.8% with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,554
(+12 EUR/sqm). Since the last lowest price level recorded in May 2010 prices have increased by 34.6% (+400 EUR/sqm). Apartment prices in Kaunas and Klaipėda in June grew by 0.4% and 0.9% respectively with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 1,106 (+4 EUR/sqm) and EUR 1,098 (+9 Eur/sqm). In Šiauliai and Panevėžys in June prices grew by 1.6% respectively with the average price per square meter reaching EUR 704 (+11 EUR/sqm) and EUR 687 (+11 Eur/sqm).

In the past 12 months, the prices of apartments grew in all major cities: 5.1% in Vilnius, 5.5% in Kaunas, 3.9% in Klaipėda, 11.2% in Šiauliai and 13.9%in Panevėžys.

‘Looking at the indicators of the past few years, the average apartment sales prices in the major cities of the country have continued to grow faster than the prices of consumer goods and services in the country. According to Statistics Lithuania, in June 2019 the annual inflation calculated on the basis of the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices stood at 2.4%. At that same time, the average annual increase in prices of apartments in the country’s major cities stood at 5.6%.

Over the past five years, i.e. June 2019 compared with June 2014, the inflation in the country stood at 8.8% and the prices of apartments in major cities increased by 19.5% on average. This means that the real sales prices of apartments, inflation-adjusted, grew by 9.8% over the past five years or twice as fast as the prices of goods and services in the country.

Changes in sales prices of apartments in major cities of the country differ and therefore the real sales prices of apartments over the past five years have increased at a different pace: in Panevėžys – 19.4%, Šiauliai – 15.2%, Vilnius – 11.3%, Kaunas – 8.5% and in Klaipėda – 3.1%,’ Raimondas Reginis, Ober-Haus Research Manager for the Baltics, said.

Full review: Lithuanian Apartment Price Index, June 2019 (PDF)