Varaleidja real estate agent Janek Moros acknowledged that compared with last year, people's interest in buying real estate in Southeastern Estonia has dampened considerably.

"The number of transactions has really fallen drastically, such as by 50 percent in Valga County," Moros said. "I'm talking specifically in regards to developed properties, with buildings or farmsteads on them. Võru County has seen a drop of around 20 percent."

In the past, people would buy even country homes in bad condition. According to Lumen Kinnisvara real estate agent Ranno Kalda, however, buyers these days are now more selective and are interested in buying properties already in good shape.

"More [properties] have come on the market, but sales are rather down compared with previous years," Kalda said. "Buyers have gotten more picky, I suppose – that is, they're not really making a lot of emotional purchases."

He noted that there's been a definite decline in the sales of uninhabitable country homes.

"In the past, even those would sell, and people would start fixing them up – but construction prices have taken their toll," Kalda explained. "What I'm tending to see is that [buyers] are choosing country homes that are more or less habitable or are completely finished being built."

The real estate agent added that property sales in Võru County are also impacted by their proximity to the Estonian Defense Forces' (EDF) Nursipalu Training Area, which is undergoing expansion.

"For example, I've had a house on the market in Tsooru for a long time," Kalda highlighted. "It does need major repairs, and, well, it's close to Nursipalu too. Tallinn residents that have come to check it out have asked about how much noise reaches there and so on too. It does have an impact – anything close to Nursipalu or bordering it is harder to sell."

Moros noted that just a couple of years ago, property buyers were often still making so-called "emotional purchases," but nowadays, people are taking their time considering whether and what properties to buy in rural areas.

"In the current economic downturn, it looks like people are thinking, considering, going to view even more [places], and that final 'yes' is very difficult for a real estate agent or property owner to secure," he admitted.

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