A pan-Baltic comparison of the average asking prices for apartments across the region shows that the highest real estate prices in this popular segment are no longer being asked for in Riga, but in Vilnius.
According to Spot, a price monitoring unit belonging to the real estate website City24, it was the Lithuanian capital that posted the highest average asking prices for apartments at the end of June 2010, followed by Riga and then Tallinn.
On average, apartment sellers and real estate agents in Vilnius were asking for LTL 5,126 (EUR 1,486) per sq m. The same indicator in Riga was LVL 1,017 (EUR 1,453), while the price per square meter in Tallinn was only EEK 19,437 (EUR 1,242) per sq m.
In certain parts of Riga, apartment prices are still higher than they were in 2005, according to City24, despite the recent crash in real estate prices. These areas include Old Riga, Pardaugava, Jugla and Purvciems. The cheapest part of Riga to live in continues to be undesirable Kengarags, with average apartment prices at LVL 462 per sq m, as opposed to LVL 1127 per sq m in central Riga.
The average sale period for an apartment in Riga is about 150 days, around 200 days in Vilnius, and 100 days in Tallinn.