Take more care when buying a home, prices have not fallen / Article / LSM.lv

Until a few months ago, real estate experts speculated that real estate prices could fall as a result of the pandemic. When summarizing the data for the first half of this year, the concerns expressed earlier turned out to be untrue – prices have not changed significantly, people’s interest in housing is still, but decisions to buy a house or apartment are made more cautiously. As a result, the number of transactions has decreased.

IN SHORT:

• Covid-19 crisis has not reduced property prices.
• However, as the number of transactions decreased, people became more cautious.
• Buyers often tried to reduce the price by 20%.
• Most transactions in the first half of the year were concluded in Riga and Pieriga.
• Most often people bought two-room apartments with an area of ​​†‹вЂ‹ 36 to 56 square meters.
• Latio: People also want to expand their housing if they have to work remotely.
• In the rental market, tenants are looking for smaller and cheaper options under the influence of Covid-19.

Most transactions in the first half of the year were concluded in Riga and Pieriga. Most often people bought two-room apartments with an area of ​​†‹вЂ‹ 36 to 56 square meters. Every second purchased apartment was in a standard project.

“It has always been classic in the world that how much a person earns per month shows about how much expensive square meter he can afford. This level of our salaries, which is plus or minus a thousand, is the price level of standard-type apartments, ”explained Edgars Šīns, Chairman of the Board of Latio.

Contrary to initial forecasts, house prices did not change significantly, but sometimes potential buyers tried to agree on a lower price in a face-to-face conversation with the apartment owner.

“Often now, buyers who may have even been waiting for this kind of change or financial crisis are coming up with their proposals – their price cuts are often 10, 15 and up to 20 percent,” said the head of Big Bang Realty. Oskars Zariņš.

Edgars Šīns, on the other hand, pointed out that “people will want an extra room in their home, so that they do not have to build a tent in case of a virus, where they could work in the room to isolate themselves from everyone with headphones”.

“It simply came to our notice then. Those who can afford it plan to have another room in case they have to work from home again to have a place to work, ”said Shein.

The opposite picture emerges in the rental market – during an emergency, tenants often asked for a reduction in fees. If that didn’t work, we had to look for cheaper options, and people were also willing to reduce their demands.

“In the past, they rented a three-room apartment, although a two-room apartment would suffice for them, then this was the time when they would move from a three-room apartment to a two-room apartment, because they understand that in fact one room is probably redundant in many cases,” said Oskars Zariņš.

In Zemgale, during the Covid-19 crisis, there was a pronounced lack of housing supply, according to data compiled by Latio, but Nil Smelteris from Ogre said that the difficulties in finding suitable housing have been long overdue.

He has been looking for a four-room apartment for rent for several years, as the existing one with three rooms has become narrow for a family of four. If an offer appears on advertisement sites, there are two options – disproportionately high rent or poor technical condition. The family also explored the possibility of buying a house, but again faced a dilemma. At a price of up to 100,000 euros, there are houses for sale that basically need to be rebuilt and an unknown amount of money has yet to be invested, or they are located too far from the center of Ogre.

“I want her to be in the city, not somewhere outside the city in the middle of the meadow. I want my child to be more or less close to kindergartens, schools, groups. Ideally, so that he can walk himself, because if I benefit from a private house, for example, 10 kilometers away from the city, he will have to take a bus or I will have to drive him all the time, ”said Nils Smelteris.

So far, there are no such offers on the market that would meet the requirements of the new family and budget possibilities.

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