TALLINN — After a year of mostly inactivity due to the economic crisis, Estonia’s biggest real estate developers are launching new projects to take advantage of lowered construction and labor prices.

Arco Vara, Merko Ehitus, Endover KVB, and YIT have already initiated their projects. Banks are prepared to finance other developments, too, but the selection criteria is more [private_supervisor]strict then in the past, increasing the rate of self-financing.

Merko Ehitus is set to complete a 200-apartment development in Tallinn — 109 apartments on their own and 96 in cooperation with Arco Vara. The first will be complete by the end of this summer.

The prices of those apartments will be a little higher than the price level is now.

“We wanted to bring a good product on the market with a good turnover,” Tiit Kuusik, director of dwelling division in Merko Ehitus told Baltic Reports.“The price will be slightly higher than the average as we value our product.”

Stability but little turnover for 2010

According to Ero Viik, head of Swedbank’s real estate department, the current price level is stable and will stay that way throughout the year. Although the market expects the sales volume to stabilize, the buyers are price sensitive and the interest is higher in case of lower prices.

Analysts are split as to whether the current price for residences, which fell as much as 50 percent in some areas from the 2007 peak of the “Baltic Tiger” boom. Kuusik said that they do not plan to save the apartments for the future, and the current prices do allow some profit. On the other hand Lauri Jemeljanov, head of construction department for real estate development company Uus Maa told Baltic Reports that it is wise to build for the future, as with the current prices there will be no profit.

The consumers are still cautious and the sales are low due to high unemployment rate and low confidence into the future. But Mart Siilivask, press spokesman of Swedbank, said the real estate market is stabilizing, as apartment prices are no longer decreasing and even rising a little in some areas.

“The number of transactions is rising since the beginning of last year,” Siilivask told Baltic Reports.

At lot depends on how willing banks are to lend. The flow of credit during the boom years was reduced to a tiny trickle in 2009. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]strict then in the past, increasing the rate of self-financing.

Merko Ehitus is set to complete a 200-apartment development in Tallinn — 109 apartments on their own and 96 in cooperation with Arco Vara. The first will be complete by the end of this summer.

The prices of those apartments will be a little higher than the price level is now.

“We wanted to bring a good product on the market with a good turnover,” Tiit Kuusik, director of dwelling division in Arco Vara told Baltic Reports.“The price will be slightly higher than the average as we value our product.”

Stability but little turnover for 2010

According to Ero Viik, head of Swedbank’s real estate department, the current price level is stable and will stay that way throughout the year. Although the market expects the sales volume to stabilize, the buyers are price sensitive and the interest is higher in case of lower prices.

Analysts are split as to whether the current price for residences, which fell as much as 50 percent in some areas from the 2007 peak of the “Baltic Tiger” boom. Kuusik said that they do not plan to save the apartments for the future, and the current prices do allow some profit. On the other hand Lauri Jemeljanov, head of construction department for real estate development company Uus Maa told Baltic Reports that it is wise to build for the future, as with the current prices there will be no profit.

The consumers are still cautious and the sales are low due to high unemployment rate and low confidence into the future. But Mart Siilivask, press spokesman of Swedbank, said the real estate market is stabilizing, as apartment prices are no longer decreasing and even rising a little in some areas.

“The number of transactions is rising since the beginning of last year,” Siilivask told Baltic Reports.

At lot depends on how willing banks are to lend. The flow of credit during the boom years was reduced to a tiny trickle in 2009. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]strict then in the past, increasing the rate of self-financing.

Merko Ehitus is set to complete a 200-apartment development in Tallinn — 109 apartments on their own and 96 in cooperation with Arco Vara. The first will be complete by the end of this summer.

The prices of those apartments will be a little higher than the price level is now.

“We wanted to bring a good product on the market with a good turnover,” Tiit Kuusik, director of dwelling division in Merko Ehitus told Baltic Reports.“The price will be slightly higher than the average as we value our product.”

Stability but little turnover for 2010

According to Ero Viik, head of Swedbank’s real estate department, the current price level is stable and will stay that way throughout the year. Although the market expects the sales volume to stabilize, the buyers are price sensitive and the interest is higher in case of lower prices.

Analysts are split as to whether the current price for residences, which fell as much as 50 percent in some areas from the 2007 peak of the “Baltic Tiger” boom. Kuusik said that they do not plan to save the apartments for the future, and the current prices do allow some profit. On the other hand Lauri Jemeljanov, head of construction department for real estate development company Uus Maa told Baltic Reports that it is wise to build for the future, as with the current prices there will be no profit.

The consumers are still cautious and the sales are low due to high unemployment rate and low confidence into the future. But Mart Siilivask, press spokesman of Swedbank, said the real estate market is stabilizing, as apartment prices are no longer decreasing and even rising a little in some areas.

“The number of transactions is rising since the beginning of last year,” Siilivask told Baltic Reports.

At lot depends on how willing banks are to lend. The flow of credit during the boom years was reduced to a tiny trickle in 2009. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]strict then in the past, increasing the rate of self-financing.

Merko Ehitus is set to complete a 200-apartment development in Tallinn — 109 apartments on their own and 96 in cooperation with Arco Vara. The first will be complete by the end of this summer.

The prices of those apartments will be a little higher than the price level is now.

“We wanted to bring a good product on the market with a good turnover,” Tiit Kuusik, director of dwelling division in Merko Ehitus told Baltic Reports.“The price will be slightly higher than the average as we value our product.”

Stability but little turnover for 2010

According to Ero Viik, head of Swedbank’s real estate department, the current price level is stable and will stay that way throughout the year. Although the market expects the sales volume to stabilize, the buyers are price sensitive and the interest is higher in case of lower prices.

Analysts are split as to whether the current price for residences, which fell as much as 50 percent in some areas from the 2007 peak of the “Baltic Tiger” boom. Kuusik said that they do not plan to save the apartments for the future, and the current prices do allow some profit. On the other hand Lauri Jemeljanov, head of construction department for real estate development company Uus Maa told Baltic Reports that it is wise to build for the future, as with the current prices there will be no profit.

The consumers are still cautious and the sales are low due to high unemployment rate and low confidence into the future. But Mart Siilivask, press spokesman of Swedbank, said the real estate market is stabilizing, as apartment prices are no longer decreasing and even rising a little in some areas.

“The number of transactions is rising since the beginning of last year,” Siilivask told Baltic Reports.

At lot depends on how willing banks are to lend. The flow of credit during the boom years was reduced to a tiny trickle in 2009. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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