Price of land plots for private homes increased by 19.3 percent in 2018
The price of land plots for building private homes increased by more than 19 percent in the last year in Estonia in 2018, Baltic News Service reports.
The median price for unbuilt residential land across Estonia in 2018 was €10.6 per square meter, 19.3 percent higher than in 2017.
The highest median price of €402 per square meter was recorded in central Tallinn, and the lowest, at less than €1 per square meter, was registered in Järva and Jõgeva counties.
A total of 2,687 transactions in which unbuilt residential land changed hands took place in Estonia during 2018 and the total value of the transactions was €119 million. Compared with 2017, the number of transactions declined 1.3 percent and the total value of the transactions 1.5 percent, the Land Board (Maa-amet) said on Monday.
"Since 2017 was a very active year on the real estate market, also in the sector of unbuilt residential land, it can be expected that after such increase in activity market volumes will stabilize for some time when it comes to the total number of transactions as well as their value alike," Johannes Nõupuu, chief specialist at the department for real estate appraisal at the Land Board, said.
For an average monthly gross wage it was possible, for instance he said, to buy just 3.3 square meters of unbuilt residential land in Tallinn's city center, but as much as 1,023 square meters in Mustvee village in Jõgeva county in 2018.
The number of transactions and the total value of transactions were both biggest in Harju County, which includes the capital Tallinn. Transactions in Harju County accounted for 43 percent of all transactions across Estonia and for 74 percent of their total value.
Where in the previous three years the share of Harju County had been declining, in 2018 the percentage that transactions concluded in Harju County made up of all transactions increased.
The other more active regions were Tartu and Pärnu, with 454 transactions concluded in Tartu County and 283 in Pärnu County during the year.
Leaving aside 2018, the median price of such land plots rather has been stable in recent years, being in the range from €8.4 to €8.9.
The median was €26.6 in Harju County, €15.4 in Tartu County, €9.3 in Pärnu county and €4.6 in Lääne-Viru county.
Editor: Helen Wright