Lithuania's house prices up 2.28 y-o-y in Q1 2019

Lithuania’s housing market remains healthy, with the five major cities’ apartment price index (covering Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys) rising by 2.28% during the year to Q1 2019 (inflation-adjusted) – an improvement from a y-o-y rise of 0.1% in Q1 2018. Quarter-on-quarter, house prices were almost steady in Q1 2019.

Demand and supply remain strong

In 2018, apartment sales in Vilnius rose by 7% while house sales surged 17% from a year earlier. In fact, according to OberHaus, 2018 saw record activities both in the apartment and housing sectors, which exceeded the previous record of overall number of housing transactions, set in 2007, by 6%.

Residential construction activity is also rising. In 2018, dwelling permits rose by 3.1% y-o-y to 16,658 units while dwelling completions increased 10.9% to 12,244 units, according to Statistics Lithuania.

Rents, rental yields: rental yields are good at 5.39%

Vilnius apartment costs are very low at around €2,163 per sq. m. 

Lithuania: typical city centre apartment buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m)
	Buying price	Rate per month	Yield
Vilnius	€ 259,560	€ 1,166	5.39%

Recent news. Lithuania’s economy grew by a healthy 3.9% in Q1 2019 from a year earlier, the strongest expansion since Q2 2017, thanks to solid growth in the construction, manufacturing and retail trade sectors, according to Statistics Lithuania. Despite this, economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7% this year and to 2.6% in 2020, amidst weaker external demand, uncertainty surrounding the Brexit and international trade constraints, based on estimates from the Bank of Lithuania.