Vilnius‘ most expensive apartment sector skyrocketed after relatively sluggish second half of 2018

The third continuous analysis of the most expensive apartments conducted by Ober-Haus has revealed that an increasing number of more expensive apartments are being sold in the capital city of Lithuania. This time, the focus was on the period H2 2018 and H1 2019. All apartment transactions, where the price per one square metre exceeded EUR 3,000 (after elimination of the price of a parking spaces, storage facilities and other apartment appurtenances from the total transaction price) in Vilnius registered over this period were selected and analysed (data source: State Enterprise Centre of Registers).

“The results show that in the period from 2016 to 2019, Vilnius recorded growth in the number of transactions of such property as well as in their value,” Raimondas Reginis, Research Manager for the Baltics at Ober-Haus, said. Altogether 88 of the most expensive apartments were purchased in Vilnius in the second half of 2018 (where the price per square metre exceeded EUR 3,000) at a total cost of EUR 23.4 million (including appurtenances). This result is poorer than in H2 2017 and H1 2018, which recorded 91 and 99 such apartments, respectively. Nevertheless, H1 2019 can boast the highest number of purchases of such apartments since H1 2016 (from the beginning of the period of research on the most expensive apartments), which amounted to 125. The price paid for these apartments, including, appurtenances, amounted to EUR 34.3 million which is the biggest amount of money spent on this type of apartments in Vilnius in the half of the year (0.2 % more than in H2 2017).

“Calculating the amount of the most expensive apartment transactions in the general statistics of all apartment sales in Vilnius, it can be seen that they grew rapidly in the period from 2016 to 2019,” Mr Reginis said. Whereas, in H1 2016, the share of the most expensive apartments in Vilnius from the total apartment transactions accounted for 0.8%, in H1 2017 – 1.1 %, in H1 2018 – 1.8% and in H1 2019 this share increased to 2.2%.

Examining the most expensive apartment transactions recorded over the past two half-years, it can be seen that purchasers very rarely paid more than EUR 5,000 per square metre. According to Ober-Haus, in H1 2019, only four apartments which exceeded this price limit were purchased.

Estimating apartments in terms of the price for one square metre, the most expensive apartment in Vilnius in H1 2019 was sold in a building which was constructed 15 years ago in L. Stuokos-Gucevičiaus Street (Old Town) – a apartment of more than 150 sqm with a parking spaces and a small non-residential purpose premises cost nearly EUR 1.1 million (about EUR 6,600 per square meter without the price of car parking spaces and other appurtenances). It is also the most expensive apartment sold since 2016 (estimating the price per square metre).

In H1 2019, an apartment in a historical building on Literatų Street (Old Town) with an area of almost 37 sqm was sold for EUR 210,000 (slightly more than EUR 5,700 per square metre).

In H1 2019, an apartment in a reconstructed and newly built multi-apartment project on Malūnų Street (Old Town) with an area of 52 sqm with a parking space was sold for EUR 310,000 (almost EUR 5,700 per square metre excluding the price of the car parking space).

In H1 2019, an apartment in a newly developed multi-apartment project on Aguonų Street (Old Town) was sold for more than EUR 900,000. The apartment has a total area of 150 sqm and is on the top floor of the building, and includes, car parking spaces and a storage facility (almost EUR 5,400 per square metre, excluding all appurtenances).

More than half of the most expensive apartments sold in the new construction projects

As usual, most of the most expensive apartments are purchased in Naujamiestis (New Town) and Senamiestis (Old Town) districts. In the central part of the city, the Old Town, Užupis, there are not only plenty of old historical buildings but fast development of new residential projects is taking place and this determines the increasing volumes of sale of the most expensive housing. According to Ober-Haus, in 2015-2016, developers built more than 1,100 apartments for sale in Naujamiestis and Old Town, in 2017–2018 – almost 1,500 apartments and in 2019–2020 it is planned to build about 1,900-2,000 units.

“Thus, it is no surprise, that with the growth of the new supply in the most valuable locations of the city, we observe an increasing number of extremely expensive apartment transactions. Statistics of the sale of the most expensive apartments is also improved by more actively developed higher value projects in Žvėrynas district, southern part of Šnipiškės and Žirmūnai districts,” Mr Reginis said. For instance, out of the 213 most expensive apartments sold in Vilnius in H2 2018 and H1 2019 as many as 55% were sold in recently developed residential projects (multi-apartment buildings constructed in 2017–2019).

Talking specifically of the very latest residential projects in Vilnius, the most sales with the highest prices over the analysed period were noted in the following projects: Live Square (Dainavos St.), Birutės 18 (Birutės St.), Magnus Rezidencija (Gedimino pr.), Pilies Apartamentai (Olimpiečių St.), Jogailos Rezidencija (Jogailos St.), Šaltinių Namai │ Attico (Aguonų St.), Pranciškonų Parkas (Lydos St.), Rinktinės URBAN (Ceikinių St.), Vytauto 35 (Vytauto St.), CNTRL (Labdarių St.), Labdarių 8A (Labdarių St.) and others.

“As we are going through a period of extremely active housing development, there will be no shortage of projects with sufficient number of sales at very high prices in the near future. It should not be forgotten either, that the growing prices of apartments have an impact on the total number of the most expensive apartment transactions,” Mr Reginis said. According to the data of Ober-Haus, prices for old construction and new construction apartments in the central part of the city, in the Old Town and other prestigious districts of the city grew by over 6% on average in the period under consideration (H2 2018 and H1 2019). In other words, whereas the price of an apartment per square metre was EUR 2,850-2,900 in the middle of 2018, this amount may exceed the limit of EUR 3,000 per square metre by the next 12 months due to the increased price level in the market.