Almost a decade after the last economic crisis the fear of population of the Baltic States to make large credit purchases has receded. The wish to buy a land plot for housing construction purposes is gaining in popularity in Latvia and in the Baltic states in general.
However, each of the three countries has its own national peculiarities regarding land plot purchase and housing construction.
With regard to the choice of location of the future home wishes of inhabitants of all three Baltic States are rather similar: the future house-owners prefer to settle in the vicinity of the capitals of their respective countries. Close to nature on the one hand, but with the place of work and benefits of culture not far away. As a result, the number of land properties purchased in the suburbs of Riga during the previous year exceeded the same indicator of 2015 by 23 %.
The size of land plots varies considerably. The inhabitants of Latvia have the most voracious appetites with regard to the size of land plots. Most often they purchase plots of 1200 to 2000 m² for housing construction. The inhabitants of the other two Baltic states choose smaller plots: Estonians — 900 to 1500 m², Lithuanians — 600 to 1 200 m².
The size of a land plot purchased for construction of a family home depends on the cost of ares and hectares in part. The inhabitants of Latvia spend less money on land plots of greater size.
In Lithuania most often land plots for housing construction cost 40 to 50 thousands Euro. In Estonia land plots in the suburbs of its capital cost 60-70 thousands Euro on the average. In the meantime in Latvia land plots for housing construction in the suburbs of Riga can be bought for mere 30-40 thousands Euro on the average.
It is interesting that after purchasing a large plot of land Latvians start to economize on the floor space of their future houses. Do they spend all their money on the land plot? Or do they deliberately try to save on residential maintenance costs?
Nevertheless, Lithuanians build the largest houses with the floor space from 160 to 200 m². Homes of Estonians are a bit smaller – from 130 to 180 m². Whereas Latvians content themselves with a floor space from 100 to 150 m². Cramped, but smaller heating bills.
In addition, housing prices in the suburbs of Riga have almost reached the level of housing construction costs. This indicates that in the future more and more people will choose to build their own houses according to their individual needs and imagination instead of purchasing ready houses on sale.