Apartments in unfinished projects are much more often chosen.
If at the beginning of the year, people were more cautious in limiting their spending, now a certain stability has come in, and customers are already safely putting the saved funds to use, making large purchases with a view to the future. This is the conclusion of the real estate developer “Bonava Latvija”, whose number of apartments sold in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year, increased by 117%. Although some potential customers were cautious in the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak, activity has now far exceeded pre-crisis times. “The time of Covid-19 is far from over, bringing new challenges and lessons into everyday life. If at the beginning of the year people were more cautious in limiting their spending, now a certain stability has come, and customers are already safely putting the saved funds to use, making large purchases with a view to the future. It should be taken into account that the housing stock is aging, so the desire for a new home is taking hold,” says Mareks Kļaviņš, Chairman of the Board of Bonava Latvija. Unlike last year, this year people are much more likely to choose apartments in unfinished projects. Compared to last year, volumes in this segment have increased by almost 150%. One of the reasons for this is the critically low supply on the market as a whole, the company estimates. People’s mobility combined with working from home has increased the desire to buy a home a little further from the center. The new conditions brought about by the pandemic have also brought about changes in terms of what buyers want in terms of functionality. “Working from home has forced many to face an unprecedented reality, so convenience is a particularly important parameter that makes a long stay at home more pleasant. Taking into account that in parallel with work duties, parents had to and will have to help their children with their studies, a large number choose, for example, not a larger two-room apartment, but a three-room apartment of the same area. Also, it is important for customers that the home is functionally convenient and comfortable in details, for example, sound insulation is of great importance so that the neighbors are heard as little as possible,” explains M. Kļaviņš. This year “Bonava Latvija” actively continued the development of such projects as “Dreilinga majas”, “Krasta kvartāls”, “Fjordi” and “Pagalms 2.0”. The company implements the development, construction and sale of economic segment and business class housing in Riga, developing projects in such micro-districts of Riga as Purvciems, Teika, Ķengarags, Šampēteris, the quiet center of Riga and the Krasta Street district. See the full version of the article here!