Housing Prices Rise 7.7% Year on Year
Fresh figures from Statistics Estonia show that the average sales price of a square meter of living space was up by 3.1 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the previous quarter and had risen by 7.7 percent over the year.
Apartment prices were the main driver of the Dwelling Price Index rise, jumping 6.5 percent quarter to quarter and 11.2 percent in the annual comparison.
The largest apartment price increases over the year were seen in Tallinn (12.5 percent), and in areas bordering Tallinn and Pärnu (10.8 percent). In the rest of Estonia, the average increase was a more modest 3.9 percent.
The per-square-meter price of houses, on the other hand, dropped by 4.7 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2012 and was down by 0.2 percent over the year.
Housing prices peaked in 2007, reaching a level about 40 percent higher than they are currently, then fell over the next two years to bottom out at 27 percent lower than today's index results.