Lithuania’s property market is currently seeing strong buyer activity, with some recent homebuyers saying the experience felt like “hunger games”.
“When I started registering to view properties, I could already hear on the phone that there were many people interested in seeing them. One broker even admitted that although the price had already been set in line with the market, they realised it would still need to be raised,” Vilnius resident Rokas told LRT.
“When several buyers are prepared to purchase the same property, a kind of price auction takes place – the buyer who offers the highest price wins,” he added, comparing the situation to “hunger games”.
Rokas said he quickly realised that there was almost no room to negotiate a lower price with sellers.
“After I failed to buy the first apartment I wanted, I started going to other viewings and immediately offering at least €5,000 above the asking price, but even that was not enough. In one case, someone apparently offered €7,000 more, even though the flat needed renovation.
“I’m happy that I eventually managed to buy another apartment directly from the seller and even negotiated the price down slightly. It’s a bit frightening to think what will happen in the property market this summer, when the minimum down payment is reduced, and people receive money returned from the second-pillar pension fund,” he said.
Prices up 10%
According to data from property developer Hanner, 529 apartments were sold in Vilnius in April, compared with 518 in March, 527 in February and 666 in January.
Since the start of the year, 2,240 new apartments have been sold in the capital.
Statistics from Hanner also show that 352 apartments were sold in Vilnius in April last year, meaning sales this year rose by 50.3%.
The average price per square metre in Vilnius reached €4,046 in April this year, up 2.5% month on month and 11.5% year on year.
There were 4,729 apartments available on the Vilnius property market in April, compared with 4,071 in March, 4,104 in February and 4,368 in January.
Over the year, the supply of available apartments in the capital fell by 5%.
Paulius Banevičius, a broker at real estate services company Capital, told LRT.lt that increased buyer interest had been evident since the end of last year, with the greatest demand currently focused on more affordable homes priced at around €180,000–€200,000.
He said the trend had been driven by expectations surrounding access to second-pillar pension savings, as well as the Bank of Lithuania’s decision to relax responsible lending rules by reducing the minimum deposit requirement for first-time buyers from 15% to 10%.
“People have switched into rush mode. They want to buy quickly because they fear prices will rise even more. And when people start rushing to buy, all sorts of auctions happen, the market heats up even further and enters an overheating cycle,” Banevičius said.
Marius Čiulada from the real estate agency Ober-Haus also said the market currently strongly favours sellers, who hold almost all the negotiating power.
According to him, when buyer demand is high, price naturally becomes the decisive factor, meaning the buyer is willing to offer the most wins.
“Imagine there are several potential buyers. The seller doesn’t know any of them. So how do they decide whom to sell to? They’re not going to hold a beauty contest,” Čiulada said.
He added that such practices are entirely normal abroad, where price bidding often takes place during group property viewings.
“I have several clients who bought property in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. There, 10 or even 20 people view the apartment at the same time, and then a competition simply begins over who will offer the highest price,” he said.
What happens next?
The brokers interviewed by LRT.lt said there was little sign that activity in the property market would slow in the near future, although they doubted that money flowing from second-pillar pension funds and the lower deposit requirement would dramatically increase buyer numbers further.
“Lithuania is not an isolated market. There are economic factors both domestically and geopolitically. For now, I think the market should maintain this momentum until summer, though it may not heat up much further,” Banevičius predicted.
However, the continued pace of home purchases could push prices even higher.
“Strong competition between buyers is also driving prices upwards. Statistics currently show prices continuing to rise and we may even see double-digit growth. Especially given the volatility in oil prices and forecast inflation, I’m afraid there is not much good news ahead,” Čiulada said.
Developers may face challenges
While the situation is challenging for buyers, strong market activity is welcomed by developers.
Mindaugas Statulevičius, president of the Lithuanian Real Estate Development Association, told LRT.lt that the rise in buyer activity had been expected and forecast, with growth visible not only in major cities but also in regional areas.
“Buyer activity was anticipated and expected. It has primarily been driven by increased supply on the market, bank interest rates, financing conditions, easier access to capital and strong expectations that part of the second-pillar pension savings would flow into real estate.
“Vilnius is growing the most, Klaipėda relatively strongly, and Kaunas is also expanding somewhat because of suburban growth. Overall, the trend is positive,” he said.
Despite the positive trends, developers are likely to face challenges this year linked to rising oil prices caused by the war in Iran. One of the biggest concerns will be ensuring that prices do not rise for projects already agreed with buyers.
Statulevičius explained that, although contracts fixing prices with construction material suppliers are usually signed six months or a year in advance to avoid inflation-related cost increases, there is still a possibility they could be revised if oil prices continue to surge globally, pushing up construction costs.
“We are not seeing this yet, but road construction companies are already saying that the prices of petroleum products used in road building have risen sharply. Naturally, this will affect the cost of other materials too, such as large-panel construction elements and metal.
“It will be up to experienced developers and market professionals to maintain agreements, avoid contract cancellations and deliver the product buyers expect,” he said.
Economists: market recovering rather than overheating
Lithuanian economists are also observing signs of increased activity in the property market, although some say the current situation resembles a moderate recovery following the slowdown of 2022–2023 rather than a sudden boom.
“Increased activity began to emerge around the middle of 2024 and became most noticeable in 2025, when interest rates stabilised, reducing financial uncertainty and encouraging people to return to the market. So far, this trend has continued in 2026, although growth remains balanced,” said Professor Laima Okunevičiūtė-Nevarauskienė at Vilnius Tech University.
Meanwhile, Dominykas Linkevičius, a lecturer at Vilnius Tech, said the 10% deposit requirement would “add more fuel to the fire”.
“Reducing the down payment requirement to 10% could have both a direct and structural impact because it lowers the barrier to entering the market and allows more people to qualify for mortgages.
“This will particularly affect demand for first homes, which could increase quite rapidly. This regulatory change, rather than second-pillar pension funds, is likely to become the main factor driving market activity in the near term,” he said.
He added that the biggest changes were likely to affect the most affordable housing segment, as first-time buyers are especially sensitive to mortgage and financing conditions.
If supply remains limited, even a small increase in demand could lead to higher prices, meaning that while overall market activity may rise moderately, price pressure in certain segments could become significantly stronger.
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