At present 1500 apartments in new development projects are in the building stage in Riga. They will gradually enter the market starting from next year and will mainly be available in the outskirt districts of Riga. This situation has encouraged interest in buying high quality renovated apartments in Riga centre available now.

“When buyers choose an apartment, increasingly more of them evaluate not only their own financial position, but also follow up the general market development trends. At present building costs are rising and this will also affect prices of apartments in new development project in future. In particular this refers to the costs of high quality interior finish because an increasing number of buyers choose an apartment where it is possible to move in immediately after buying it. Buyers also pay increasingly more attention to the property location and prefer apartments at strategically convenient locations, in particular, in the city centre or close to it,” the Head of Latio Housing Division Ermīns Sniedze describes, “At the end of November last year Latio commenced selling apartments in a fully renovated house “Barona rezidence”. Buyers’ interest about in apartments in the centre of Riga turned out to be so big that more than 90% of apartments there have been sold until now. Buyers appreciate the centre of Riga both as a place for permanent residing and also as investment for future. Now we have started selling of apartments in several renovated houses where compact apartments are available for the buyers representing the economic segment – at Lāčplēša Street 13, Dzirnavu Street 63, Pērnavas Street 15a and Valdemāra Street 69.”

During recent years the centre of Riga had become an explicit luxury residential area, however, the trends of the real estate market development indicate that now it is open to change, in particular, increasingly more reconstructed houses are offered for sale at comparatively low prices. For example, in the house at Valdemāra Street 69, which has been the hostel of the University of Latvia for a long time, following complete reconstruction of the house, there are both single room apartments at prices starting from EUR 28,810 and large four room apartments at prices starting from EUR 130,000.

"We decided to renovate the house at Krišjāņa Valdemāra Street 69 because this is a national architecture monument built in 1909 possessing the rich cultural history of the place and the building. The building architect Aleksandrs Vanags is among the brightest personalities among the architects of Riga who shaped the townscape characterising the city centre in the beginning of the 20th century,” the developer of the house at Kr.Valdemāra Street 69 Konrads Gailevičs says, „The location of the house in the very heart of Riga where culture and recreation facilities, schools and health care institutions are readily accessible determined our choice to invest in this building ".

Also the house at Dzirnavu Street 63 where the exile representatives gathered in the spring of 1990 to develop the text of the Independence Declaration of Latvia is undergoing reconstruction. After reconstruction there will be 20 apartments with the area ranging from 47 to 67 m² at prices starting from EUR 105,000 available in this house.

 “We have observed that buyers appreciate the charm of old buildings, including high ceilings, preserved and renovated historical details of houses, for instance, tile stoves, ceiling decorations, parquet, when they choose to buy a property in a renovated building. Moreover, if the building renovation has been of high quality, energy efficiency of old buildings is better than in new projects,” Mārcis Dobrājs, the representative of the developers of the project at Dzirnavu Street 63.

From the point of view of evaluating the real estate market development in the Baltic countries, prices in Riga are 15 – 40% lower in comparison to the capitals of neighbouring countries. The average price per square metre over all the real estate segments is below EUR 1000 in Riga, while in Tallinn and Vilnius the price is EUR 1400 – 1600.

Latio is the leading real estate company in Latvia with a broad offer of residential, office and commercial premises, as well as industrial, business sites and land plots. The company has the experience of more than 25 years allowing provision of full service in real estate transactions. Complete updated information about the offer of housing and commercial properties in Latvia is only available on www.latio.lv.