Housing classes – according to its location
NT people with at least some knowledge of the field know that the most important thing in the housing market is location. According to Tomas Sovijus Kvainickas, Inreal Group’s head of investment and analysis, housing can be divided into classes.
“Housing is divided into classes, largely according to its location. The saying that the value of a property depends on its location also applies here. Because any features of the property, depending on the thickness of the wallet, can be changed except for the location. This is the location of the property in real terms and determines the property class that the property will belong to. In the central part of the city, in the old town, housing will be prestigious, around the center – middle class, housing in the periphery – economy class. When the issue of space is resolved, other nuances remain: architecture, technical solutions that can raise or lower the quality of housing, ”explains the real estate analyst in the Delfi Theme program.
© DELFI / Julius Kalinskas
–
He continues that today, when it comes to Vilnius, everyone understands that there are prestigious housing in the Old Town, Žvėrynas, Užupis, today and Paupys. A part of the dwellings of the Old Town periphery, Šnipiškės, part of Žirmūnai, Antakalnis can be assigned to the middle class. On the other hand, TS Kvainickas emphasizes that in the south of Žirmūnai, for example, a prestigious class project can be developed if it is close to the river, which is a big factor in those cities where there are fewer opportunities to have an apartment near the river.
According to the real estate analyst, the boundaries of housing classes are disappearing in cases when, for example, neighborhoods that previously had an economic housing class are changing their face, their value is being raised by new projects, services and social infrastructure.
Real Estate
© DELFI / Julius Kalinskas
–
“The housing class may change during the conversion of the territory. For example, Viršuliškės. Until now, economy-class housing has been developed there, but when new high-rise buildings appear in Viršuliškės, more interesting architectural, facade and technical solutions appear in them, we can already classify such projects sprouting here as middle-class. In the future, there will be even more middle-class projects here, when more public infrastructure will appear – parks, shopping places, etc. Also in Žirmūnai. Last year, there were areas that were not developed, they were more productive, but developers are buying those plots and developing more interesting projects here, so this area will soon become a place for middle-class housing, ”explains TS Kvainickas.
Buyers dictate the rules
Some real estate experts say that we are approaching the limit when housing in Vilnius will become unaffordable for a part of the population, but Dalia Andrulionienė, the head of real estate development company Omberg, says the opposite: buyers can buy more and more expensive property, they are a cartel for developers and therefore the line between economy and middle class housing is disappearing. In other words, their price becomes similar and buyers are looking for housing that will surely meet their needs and no matter what neighborhood, project it will be in, or what its price is.
“Until recently, a year and a half ago, we saw that our project competitors are nearby projects in the same residential neighborhood. Now it is completely different: buyers are looking for housing in different parts of Vilnius and according to those standard property classes, they seem to be looking for very different housing. It means that the boundaries are being pushed by the customers themselves, because they value completely different things, ”says the interviewee.
© DELFI / Julius Kalinskas
–
TS Kvainickas adds that such behavior of buyers only shows that they are looking for quality and pay more attention to the architectural and technical solutions of the building.
“It shows that the buyer is looking for housing that suits their needs, and if it suits them, the person does not pay attention to whether the housing is economy class or average. In terms of supply, yes, the buyer needs to drive through different neighborhoods and projects to find that right home. If he wants to have a work room, there are only those in Žvėrynas apartments, which he does not buy or they are too small for him, it goes without saying that he will have to look for an apartment in other neighborhoods, possibly further away from the center, ”explains the real estate analyst.
© DELFI / Josvydas Elinskas
–
Poses a cartel
The fact that today the line between economy and middle class housing is disappearing, their prices are becoming similar, according to D. Andrulionienė, is determined by the buyers, raising the cartel of quality housing under construction.
“In my opinion, today’s buyers demand the same quality and standards from both economy and middle-class housing, so that line is disappearing. These two classes are no longer different in quality. There are very high energy class, high customer expectations, quality building materials. And if we used to see projects that don’t think about infrastructure, but only about sales, then now there aren’t such projects. Secondly, developers are now investing more in well-being, landscaping, leisure spaces and thus changing the face of residential neighborhoods. This is partly dictated by the municipality, which is raising a cartel for developers, ”says the head of the real estate company.
–
T. S Kvainickas talks about the contribution of the municipality in destroying the boundaries between economy and middle class housing. According to him, developers are most obliged to the place where they develop the property, because different neighborhoods have different requirements for buildings and territorial development.
“There will be no 16-storey apartment buildings in the Old Town, and three-storey apartment buildings will probably not be built in Viršuliškės. When there are requirements for the place and there are people who like certain examples of the building, it will be more attractive to such people in Šnipiškės, Viršuliškės, but he may not like Pilaitė or Pašilaičiai as much. There are people who want coziness, they will look at Markučiai, Paupis and so on. And when it becomes a less important place for buyers, there is an opportunity to develop more interesting projects further away from the city center: on the shores of lakes, near the forest. It would seem that they are further away from the city center, but they do not have the positive influence of the center, but of nature. And although the project seems to be in the periphery, it should be economy class, but it is the only one by the lake, so it becomes a middle-class project, ”explains the interlocutor.
–
No need to want something you can’t afford
Today, according to Inreal, up to 40% of economy-class housing is being built and bought, and more than 40% is in the middle class. About 10 percent. consists of cottages, a little more than 5 percent. – Prestigious class and a few percent lofts.
“It simply came to our notice then. The coincidence that the economy class is still cheaper, the average more expensive, and the prestigious most expensive is still there. The fragmentation is in order to be able to orientate the development of the project in one or another neighborhood, ”emphasizes the real estate analyst.
Although it seems that economy-class housing is becoming more expensive and its prices are approaching the prices of middle-class real estate, D. Andrulionienė says that the price analysis shows otherwise: according to her, the price of middle-class housing has become more expensive.
“If we already divide housing into those classes, it seems that since 2018, middle-class housing has become more expensive than economy-class housing. That’s right, the exclusion seems to have widened. However, it seems to me that the main thing is not the price, but the reduction in the differences between the projects themselves. The further away, the less the projects themselves differ in their quality, appearance, and so on. Developers no longer divide housing according to economy class, they build according to customer expectations, ”says the head of the real estate development company.
© DELFI / Julius Kalinskas
–
TS Kvainickas adds that today, when setting the prices of a project, developers value more than the prices of other projects in the neighborhood and nearby.
“It simply came to our notice then. That is why the prices differ between the neighborhoods, and the percentage price difference between the housing classes remained similar, ”says the real estate analyst.
Asked whether people will still be able to buy real estate in Vilnius when the prices of all housing increase in this way, TS Kvainickas says that he will be able to, but not anything.
“It simply came to our notice then. If a person on average income wants to buy a home outside their means, for example, one with 1 sq. Km. m cost 10 thousand. This is another issue here, ”the interlocutor emphasizes.
D. Andrulionienė also shares the opinion that housing in Vilnius will be affordable: “I think they will be able to, because the projects are very different and their prices are different. What is really changing is that developers are no longer building just four walls, they are building a concept. ”
–
It is strictly forbidden to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any form without consent, and if consent has been obtained, DELFI must be cited as the source.
