Property market picks up

TALLINN - The number of real estate transactions in 2010 reached 30,979, ringing up a total value of 1.2 billion euros, according to Statistics Estonia data, reports news agency LETA. Compared to the previous year, both the total number as well as total value of purchase-sale transactions increased. However, the average price of a purchase-sale transaction dropped.

During the year, the number of transactions increased by 18 percent compared to 2009 and the total value of transactions increased by 6 percent. An increase in the number of transactions with residences, by nearly 3,000 transactions or by one fifth, had the greatest impact on the growth in the number of transactions. In 2010, the average value of a purchase-sale transaction was 38,857 euros, which is a tenth less than in 2009, and a half less than in 2006 – a year characterized as the peak frenzy of the real estate market. Compared to 2006, the number of purchase-sale transactions with registered property and dwellings has decreased by over half.

During the year, the average value of a transaction with unimproved registered property decreased by nearly a fourth, and the average value of a transaction with registered property decreased by almost a tenth. The average value of transactions in residences remained at the same level.

Compared to 2009, the average value of a purchase-sale transaction decreased the most, i.e. by 42 percent in central Estonia. In western Estonia the decrease was 28 percent and in northern Estonia by 6 percent. In southern and northeastern Estonia, the average value of a purchase-sale transaction did not change significantly during the year.
In 2010 the average price per square meter of a dwelling in purchase-sale transactions was 640 euros, which is 1 percent more than in 2009. The price per square meter in Tallinn increased 5 percent and in Tartu 4 percent. In Parnu, the price per square meter decreased 8 percent.

Since 2008, the data of the Estonian Land Board serve as a basis for the production of official statistics on the purchase-sale transactions of real estate. In previous years Statistics Estonia collected the data from notaries.