In the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025) 5,532 registered apartment transactions were made in Estonia, a 9 percent rise on year and also 12 percent up on the preceding quarter. At the same time, the overall apartment market grew only modestly compared with last year.

Realtor Siim Kabel of Domus Kinnisvara said this indicates stability in the market: Over the past three years, transaction activity has remained at the same level year-on-year. The situation with real estate is currently a buyer's market, he noted.

"Subjectively, it is of course noticeable that clients have started to show a bit more interest in real estate /.../, but reaching a deal can be quite laborious and is taking more time than usual. I would confidently call the current market a buyer's market," Kabel said.

In Tallinn alone, the average price per square meter for a newly built apartment came to €4,540, a 7 percent increase compared with 2024.

Meanwhile, the price of secondary market apartments in Tallinn remained unchanged at €2,871 per square meter.

The share of new apartment sales in Q2 2025 came to 12 percent, a decline on year, however.

Sven Abrams, real estate specialist at City Property, said: "Secondary market apartments are more affordable and, against the backdrop of rising living costs, they seem like a more reasonable choice for people."

According to Kabel, the fall in the number of new build transactions may also be explained by summer's 2 percentage-point VAT hike which took effect on July 1. Many contracts were signed before this change, to avoid the impact of the higher VAT.

"Since VAT plays a role in the price of new development apartments, I believe that's where the dog is buried," Kabel noted.

He added that if the Euribor rate continues to decline and there are no major fluctuations in the economy, sales figures could return to last year's levels by the end of this year.

House prices rising

While apartment prices and transaction volumes have remained moderately unchanged, the biggest change has been seen in the segment of developed properties, i.e. houses. Prices have risen significantly here.

1,942 house sale transactions were made in Q2 2025, a 5 percent rise on year. The total value of house sales grew by as much as 33 percent over the year – totaling €100 million. This indicates a higher average house price than a year ago.

Across the entire real estate market, 10,395 transactions were made to a total value of €1.324 billion in the quarter. While the number of transactions remained at a constant level compared with the same quarter in 2024, the total market value increased by 17 percent.

According to Kabel, the 17 percent growth in total real estate market value can be attributed specifically to the rise in house prices – since houses cost more on average than apartments, the impact of their price increase on the entire market is also greater.

In Kabel's opinion, the current numbers should be viewed with caution however; instead another year of stability, with indicators remaining similar to previous levels, might be expected.

"Historically, autumn and spring have been the best times for real estate sales, and winter (specifically January and February) as well as summer (if it's nice and warm) are sort of a low season," Kabel noted.

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