In Q3 2009, the housing market in Lithuania demonstrated its first signs of stability. Although sales and lease prices continued to go down in all major Lithuanian cities, the decrease was not as radical as it was in the first two quarters of 2009. In Q3 flats prices decreased an average of 6% (in Q1 drop was 11% and in Q2 it was 9%). The number of registered housing-related transactions has remained stable over the past 6 months, and some minor signs of growth are already visible. In our opinion, however, it is too early to consider these signs a revival of the market because market activity remains low compared to previous years and national economic forecasts are not very optimistic either. Yet it is obvious that housing prices, which are much lower than they were in the boom years, have started to attract an increasing number of potential buyers who were waiting for prices to go down.
